


The Kindling Alchemist

by kvhottie



Category: Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood & Manga, Haikyuu!!
Genre: Bunk Sex, Fluff and Smut, M/M, aged-up to 18+, and a lot of angst, disabled but with some fine cybernetic legs Hinata, futuristic elements inspired by Psycho Pass, love/hate sparring, quite a bit of deaths, spoiler alert: no it's not KageHina who will die so I hope that eases some of my readers worries, you will probably get attached to the homonculi
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-03
Updated: 2018-03-05
Packaged: 2018-04-12 17:54:00
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 5
Words: 25,865
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4489092
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kvhottie/pseuds/kvhottie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"...and finally your partner, Major Kageyama, the Crystal Aconite Alchemist.”</p><p>Hinata’s eyes darted to Kageyama and looked him up and down. Dark hair, blue eyes, and a stoic expression—he definitely wasn’t the life of the party. Hinata smirked, almost sure that Kageyama's alchemy element was something cold, just like his demeanor. It was fine; he always liked a challenge.</p><p>(A futuristic FMA:B au)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Everything Begins In April

The laser gun left no exit wound.

For some reason, that was one of the details he most vividly remembered. Everything else that happened that night was torn apart by his conscious mind, and stored in the far corners of sweat-drenched dreams—dreams such as this one.

Hinata had a tight grip on the hem of his father’s plaid shirt and his eyes flickered from the wide back protecting him to the masked men towering over them. The men quietly whispered amongst themselves, their rusty-brown, Noh devil masks catching the living room light whenever one shook their head. _Why were they still here?_ His father balled his hands into fists and trembled, from fear or hate, Hinata wasn’t sure, but the waves traveled across his body and connected to Hinata’s own trembling hand. _The men already had what they came to steal in that leather patented bag, so why weren’t they leaving?_ Hinata’s heart was beating erratically in his ear and their apartment’s wooden floor carved lines into his knees as he kneeled there, barely breathing. He already knew why they were still here. After all, he had relived this memory more times than he could count.

Hinata hated his uncanny ability to lucid dream.

Because although he was aware that this wasn’t really happening, he could never shake himself awake.

One of the men snickered and raised a small silver gun to his father’s face. Hinata knew from the way the clear hub at the top of the gun glowed that it was a laser gun. He knew because his father had let him watch the way he assembled and tweaked guns just like that one, a proud smile on his face when Hinata recalled the names of the electrical components. Hinata loved to be the cause of that silly grin and often reached up, dipping underneath his brown tortoise glasses, to touch the faint crowfeet wrinkles that were prematurely forming at the corner of his eyes. Hinata wanted to see that smile again. He wanted his father to comfort him when he got ridiculed, tugging at his own short orange hair and comparing the strands in his hand to Hinata’s lighter ones. But instead, with a short jerk of his wrist, that stranger destroyed everything. Hinata watched the head of orange hair he admired so much loll forward, the rest of his body following, and land with a thud on the floor.

“Dad?” Hinata tried, crawling towards his father, “Daddy?” It was quiet—even with the men laughing in the background, Hinata couldn’t hear anything. He gripped the back of his father’s shirt and buried his face into the fabric, chest heaving violently, and tears streaming down this face. Having understood too well what the silence meant, he wailed. The sound was raw and shrill, tearing through the air so persistently that one of the men smacked Hinata on the head with the gun in an attempt to shut him up. Hinata fell onto his back, dizzy, and scampered to the closest wall, screams shriveling to whimpers, eyes growing wide when the man pointed the gun at him.

“Should we shoot the kid too?” He spat, pressing the gun into Hinata’s forehead for added effect.

“Nah, just tie his arms to the legs of this couch. He’ll die in the fire, anyway.”

The shooter chuckled, “That’s worse, ain’t it? Merciless asshole.”

“It’s more fun this way.”

After tucking the gun in the back of his pants, the man dug his fingers into Hinata’s hair, and dragged him across the floor towards the couch—through the blood pooling by his father. Hinata tightly shut his eyes, biting back a cry as waves of shivers racked his body. Everything hurt. He could feel the dirty nails scraping at his scalp and his father’s blood soaking through his shirt; the liquid was now cold and sticky, smearing the floor in putrid red. He swallowed the puke inching its way up his throat, hard, the acid searing the sore flesh, and breathed sharply through his nose. _Keep it in._ He opened his eyes and blankly stared at the man tying him up, trying to outline his face, taking into memory absolutely any detail that could come in handy if he were to survive all this, but his vision was turning blurry. What was even the point anymore?

Hinata’s mind slowed down to a haze, the throbbing on the side of his head preventing him from processing anything around him, and his glazed eyes stared up at the white ceiling. The blood on his back pulled at his skin as it dried, cracking when he twitched at the uncomfortable feeling, and itching so much that he wanted to claw the skin away. The sounds around him were muffled, echoing in his ear as if coming from a distance, and they grew even quieter. The house door slammed closed and that’s when the smell finally hit him… _smoke._ Fear rattled his mind, just a bit, enough for him to muster the remainder of his strength to pull at the bonds, and ultimately give up. It was useless. He returned his shaky attention to the blackening ceiling and recalled all the times he spent tracing imaginary shapes on this very canvas, his tiny head on his mother’s lap while his toes poked his father’s side absentmindedly. He coughed, his body lifting a bit and landing painfully from the force of the motion; it was getting hard to breathe.

His consciousness frayed at the seams, jolted by a cough or two, and then further escaping him. It was okay. He’d just sleep for a little bit…

The dream always ended there. Hinata slowly opened his eyes, rubbed at the wet corners, and looked down to see exactly what he saw when he woke up in the hospital eight years ago. Or, more accurately, what he didn't see: everything below his mid-thighs. His mother had explained through sobs that some of the ceiling had come down and smashed his legs. He sighed and smacked his cheeks to shake off the prickling remnants of the dream. Things were much better now. He sat at the edge of the bed and picked up the comforter from the floor, which was probably knocked over while he thrashed around last night. For one, he had lovely cybernetic legs his mother toiled away to make. And he had to hand it to her; they not only worked beyond perfection, they also looked pretty damn realistic.

Hinata glanced at the clock on his nightstand. _Eight, huh. That’s plenty of time_.

“Kuro.” Hinata called out, voice laced with the usual morning huskiness. He swung his legs back and forth and looked around the room for where their holo-helper would pop up. When his mom redesigned the house’s security and holo-system after the incident, he picked a crow with brown tortoise shell glasses as their new helper.

The crow appeared on Hinata’s left shoulder and pushed his tiny glasses up with his wing, “Good Morning, Shouyou.” That voice always soothed him. He didn’t know if his mother did it purposefully, but it sounded awfully similar to his father’s, or what he remembered of him, anyway. “Your mother is making your favorites for breakfast. She even denied my help, saying it was no occasion for my heart-less well-balanced meals.”

Hinata chuckled and stood up, stretching his arms above his head, “Don’t take it personally, Kuro. She’s just a bit emotional because I am leaving today.” Kuro, already used to Hinata’s morning routine, left his shoulder for the nearby shelf and awaited his master’s orders. Hinata hummed, doing a few minutes of high knees and jumping jacks to warm up his body. He continued with deep lunges on each side, leg extensions, side splits, and the middle split. Hinata took his morning stretches very seriously. Especially since his fighting style centered on a flexible body, but also because his leg joints were more prone to stiffening now, and stretching always relieved that.

“I feel gross…” Hinata said mostly to himself while in a butterfly stretch, “Kuro, let mom know that I’ll be taking a shower and will be down in a bit.”

“Don't waste too much water,” Kuro reminded as he disappeared.

Hinata stood up with a yawn and walked across to the joint toilet and shower room. He usually used the separate bath downstairs—he’d actually bathed yesterday night—but this shower room was useful for mornings when he woke up sweaty like this. The only rooms on this half-floor were the shower room, his room, and his father’s dusty study. He made a point to avoid that room unless it was necessary.

Hinata slid open the glass shower door and turned the nob almost all the way to the left. He liked his showers scalding hot. Sometimes he feared that he’d melt off the matte tan finish of his legs but judging from the fact that it was his mother’s invention, that’d be impossible. Hinata took off his clothes, dropping them in a pile by his towel, and stepped into the water with a blissful sigh. He probably had his alchemy to thank for his strange love of inhumanly hot temperatures. After a quick shampoo and lather, he rinsed and got out, drying himself with the dark blue towel hanging on the bar. This would be the last time in a while that he’d be showering in his house. It was saddening and he was sure that he’d suffer really bad homesickness, but he was also extremely excited. He wrapped the towel around his lower half and briskly walked to his room to get changed. He had already tried on the uniform when he received the package but this time he was actually going to wear it outside, in public, where he could show it off and yell to the world that he was a State Alchemist.

Hinata pulled grey briefs from his drawer, shimming into them to the beat of a house song he had heard a few days ago (he needed to find out the name of that song) and danced over to his closet. He pulled out the hanger with his precious uniform, the clothes crisp but not starchy; it was some sort of nanotech breathable, temperature-regulated cloth, or something. There was probably a proper name for it, but he had no idea what it was. He put on his black nylon shirt and looked at the mirror, amused by the way it outlined every curve of his torso, and proceeded to slip into his blue pants. _Hell yes._ They cut off right below the knee, giving him full access to his transmutation circles. Of course, he knew this from when he had previously tried on the clothes, but it felt good when clothes were customized especially for him. Also, the pants had huge pockets. That was extra brownie points in his book. Finally, he put on the blue vest, being very careful with the golden tassels and star studs on the shoulder, and buttoned it up. Hinata looked at himself in the mirror, a cocky smile spreading across his face; he looked good. The blue and white color palette complimented his bright orange hair surprising well and the uniform demanded respect for even a guy of such small stature like himself. Scanning the room for anything he might have forgotten, he spotted his black stud earcom on his nightstand. The earcom, or ear communicator, was a customized version of the wrist communicator most people used nowadays—he’d beg his mom to make it for his 18th birthday. Whining nonstop, and also getting his ear pierced, was totally worth it. He put it on, grabbed his messenger bag from the floor, and scanned the room once more, determining he was completely ready. He whispered ‘lights off’ and then ‘goodbye’ to the lonely room.

The dinning room table was already covered to the edges with all his favorite breakfast foods, and even some items that would be more appropriate for dinner. Hinata hung his bag on his usual chair and walked to the kitchen yelling a cheery ‘Good Morning’.

“Ah, good morning,” His mom replied, flashing him her happiest, and slightly forced, grin. “We were just cleaning up while we waited for you. Let’s go eat.”

Hinata bent down and gently pinched Natsu’s cheek, “Hey, munchkin. Helping mom out?”

Natsu giggled and set down the pot she was drying, “I’m not a munchkin! Watch out nii-san, I’m already catching up to you.”

She was. And Hinata shook his head, afraid of how embarrassing it’d be if his younger sister passed him in height. “Mom, can’t you make a height potion or something?” Hinata joked, following them to the dinning room, “I’d cry if my cute little Natsu grew taller than me!”

His mother chuckled and let down her long, chestnut hair as she took her seat, “I’m not a witch, Shouyou, but I can add height to your legs. It’ll make you look disproportionate, though.”

Hinata shook his head, “It’s okay. Just stop giving Natsu milk.”

“But I love milk.” Natsu pouted, “Stop being a kid, nii-san. Just accept it.”

“Never.” Hinata looked around while stacking his plate with hot cakes and fruit, “Where’s Kuro?”

“I sent him away for a bit because he kept nagging me about how much sugar I used, or how imbalanced the meals were. I swear, that crow reminds me of my mother.”

Hinata snickered, “You know you love him too, mom.” He took a bowl and filled it to the brim with rice, cracking an egg on top to complete his absolute favorite meal. “Kuro, you can come back now.”

Kuro popped up on Hinata’s head this time, deeming it a safer place than the arms that were wildly grabbing things from around the table, “Yes, Shouyou?”

“It’s nothing. Just accompany us for breakfast” Hinata licked his lips and clapped his hands together, “Itadakimasu.” He dived into his food, knowing that his mom always appreciated when he showed how much he enjoyed her meals, and especially when the meal was prepared with every ounce of her love, pride, and fear of letting her child go. He could almost taste the edges of sadness, the tears she shed even before cutting the onion, the reason her face was slightly puffy—he knew her better than the crevices in his own palm, and he adored her for that. So he’d smile, like he’d done all these years, and laugh for her, for Natsu, and for himself.

“I called this morning. All your stuff arrived at the base and your room is prepared.” His mother poked the hotcake on her plate with her fork, “I also told them that they aren’t allowed to touch your legs unless it is an emergency. I have and will continue to be your main technician so don't forget that.”

Hinata nodded, eyes growing soft at his mother’s possessiveness, “No one does a better job than you, mom. Don't worry; I’ll be back for tune-ups at least once a month.”

“Me too! I can help with that!” Natsu offered, “Mom has been teaching me how to be a great technician just like her. She said that at least one of us got the smarts.”

“Hey, that’s rude.” Hinata looked up at Kuro, “Do you also think I’m an idiot?”

“Well, Shouyou, if you base it on your grades from school, I am afraid that is the case.”

His mother laughed, a pleasant sound, like a bell chime ringing in the air, “But you found what you’re good at, and that’s what’s important. We’ll always be here to support you, Shouyou.”

“Thanks mom, and you too munchkin.” He wiped his lips with the napkin, “I should probably head out…”

His mother pressed her lips, the beginning of tears already lining her eyes, and nodded, getting up from the table with Natsu to follow Hinata to the door. Kuro also flittered along, perching himself on the coat rack.

“Did you say goodbye to your high school friends and that fighting coach of yours, Ukai, was it?”

“Yeah mom, I made sure to do that.”

Hinata swung his bag on his shoulder and searched the shoe cabinet by the entrance for his black, fire resistant slip-ons. Having stepped into them, he turned around to face his mother and sister one more time. _Smile._ Hinata first wiped the tears treading down Natsu’s cheeks with his thumb and placed a soft kiss on her forehead. She’d be all right; after all, she had his mother’s steadfast character. He then hugged his mother, tightly, trying to reassure her with every fiber of his being that he’d be back, that he wouldn’t become a pile on the floor like his father, that he had strength now.

“I love you guys,” he whispered as he pulled away from his mother and ruffled Natsu’s hair, “I’ll call a bunch and visit as soon as I can.”

“Take care, Shouyou” Kuro chimed.

Hinata opened the door, smiling as widely as his lips allowed him, “I’m off.” And he shut the door behind him, making sure to rub the tears from his eyes only when he was halfway to the station.

He tapped his hand on pad of the Roppongi station entrance gates. Nowadays, almost everyone had an ID chip implanted in their hand at birth which could be computed to hold subway fare, credit cards, and other useful information. Technically, the parents could opt their child out of the procedure, but that would make living in the city very hard. Only grumpy old people still resisted the raging technological age. Hinata made his way to the train heading towards Haneda airport, feeling a bit self-conscious and at the same time pleased at how people kept eyeing him. The Tokyo State Alchemists Base was on a man-made island in Tokyo Bay that could only be reached though a high security subway line from a station near the airport. Hinata looked up at the station’s digital clock; it was 10:12. _I’ll be there right on time._ In the past, this trip would take around an hour and a half, but with the magnetic levitation, or maglev, subways that were now in use, that time had been cut by half.

The train arrived at 10:14, like it did every day. Hinata strolled to a corner seat, took out the ancient iPod that he he inherited from his father, and zoned out to his deep house playlist.

* * *

 

“You must be Major Hinata Shouyou, the new recruit, right?”

Hinata turned towards the soothing voice, a bit taken aback by the person walking towards him. He was really…gorgeous? It was an odd thing to say about another man, but still, he was very pleasing to the eye. He had soft silver hair, a beauty mark near his left eye, and a charming aura—someone you’d see with a flowery background in a shojou manga. It was puzzling; Hinata was expecting the Major General to be more intimidating and burly. But then again, this man had on a holster with two guns, so Hinata had a feeling that he couldn’t let himself be fooled by appearances.

“Uh,” Hinata stuttered, rubbing the back of his neck, “Yeah, that’s me. Are you Major General Sawamura?”

The man laughed and waved his hand in front of him, “Oh, no, no. Major General Daichi, as he likes to be called, got a bit caught up in something so he asked me to come pick you up from reception. I’m Colonel Sugawara, his right hand man and the head of the non-alchemist general military division of the Tokyo base. Nice to meet you.”

Hinata grinned, “Nice to meet you, Colonel.”

“Okay, come with me. We’ll meet up with the Major General and give you a tour of the place.”

Hinata followed Sugawara through the metal plated doors to the left of the reception desk and towards the elevators. The huge base seemed to be built in a circular shape, like a dome, with a few hallways cutting across the center and special rooms filling the gaps. This metal heavy, eerily quiet, chilly maze of a building was now his new home. It felt the farthest from cozy, but hey, at least it was brightly lit. After taking the elevator to the lowest floor, B1, they walked down a long hallway and stopped at front of double metal doors (who the heck designed this place). Sugawara announced them through the intercom and the doors slid opened with a beep at a laughably slow pace.

“We need to fix those doors.” The gruff voice was low, calm, and completely directed at Sugawara, who promptly typed something into his wristcom. So this was Major General Daichi. Hinata’s smile grew wider—he was totally right to expect a robust stature and the intimidating, or in this case, dependable, aura to match. Daichi set his pen down and stood up, the sound of the cushion re-inflating filling the air, and took slow strides towards them.

“So, the Kindling Alchemist has finally arrived.” He placed a hand on Hinata’s shoulder and gave him a side grin, “Quite a fitting name for that performance you put on in your exam. Seriously amazing.”

Hinata’s eyes widened, “You were there?”

“Yeah, I was watching from behind a viewing panel. Although only the higher-ups deal with the actual tests, pretty much anyone is allowed to watch them. I had heard that the first non-academy kid in ten years was taking a test and my interest was piqued. I am glad I trusted my gut.”

Sugawara cleared his throat, “If by your gut you mean me pestering you to go, then yes, I am also happy you trusted your gut.”

Daichi chuckled, “Yes, that’s what I meant. Thank you, Suga.”

Hinata watched the interaction with disbelief and slight curiosity. They were so _friendly._ He came to this base with only what he had learned from military movies and the tiny snippets his mom explained, and so far, it had been one surprise after another. He couldn’t sense any of that stifling, arrogant hierarchy that the military was so infamous for. It was relieving. If this is what the commander of the base was like, then he was positive he could handle the rest of the base.

Sugawara looked at his watch, “We should start the tour now.”

“Oh yes, that’s true.” Daichi patted Hinata on the back, “We’ll walk and talk.”

The three of them took the elevator up to the second floor. Hinata walked between his two commanding officers while looking around excitedly, a tiny sound of awe slipping from his mouth when they passed the huge cafeteria. There was so much food. The rest of the floor was pretty self-explanatory: laundry room, entertainment room, and library.

“I’ve been curious since I saw your test.” Daichi started, “ What martial arts is your fighting style based on? I’ve never really seen anything like it.”

“It’s based on a Brazilian martial arts form called capoeira.”

“Oh, so that can be used for fighting?” Sugawara interjected, “I only thought it was a dance form. It’s really refreshing to see such a unique fighting style. Everyone else gets pretty much the same boring combat training from the academy.”

Hinata shrugged, “I didn’t have much of a choice. I didn’t get accepted into the academy so I had to find a coach instead.”

“Because of your brain’s inability to accept the I.A.T receptors?” Daichi said cautiously, “ I read it in your file.”

“I.A.T? What’s that?”

Sugawara raised his eyebrow, “They didn’t explain anything to you? Isn’t your mother an academy nanotechnician?”

“Yeah, she is, but after that incident…” Hinata stuck his hands in his pockets, “After my father was killed, she pretty much stopped talking about any of that. Also, the people at the academy just told me my brain doesn’t mesh well with the technology. So I have no idea what I.A.T means.”

They found themselves in the elevator again and Daichi pressed the button for the fourth floor. The air was turning a bit stale and dreary, as it usually did when people talked about traumatic life-changing events, but this was already routine for Hinata.

“I.A.T means Integrated Alchemy Technology” Daichi explained, showing Hinata his right arm after they got out of the elevator. Hinata hadn’t noticed that his forearm was covered with some sort of black plate. “It is the system of technology that has made it possible to use alchemy through digital transmutation circles. They are made up of almost indestructible jewelry the alchemist wear and the nanotechnology they can get implanted in them.”

“And not only that…” Sugawara reached for one of his guns but froze, slowly looking at Hinata, “Um, is it okay for me to show you my laser gun? Is it a trigger?”

Hinata shook his head, a bit moved by how considerate Sugawara was being, “It’s okay.”

Sugawara drew a long silver gun from one of his holsters and laid it flat on his hand, pointing at the brown gripping area, “If you remove the grip there is a transmutation circle engraved on the gun. The guns that the non-alchemist military use also fall under I.A.T because they have a pocket of emergency copper that can be transformed into a metal bullet. But only if the user is able to muster their little bit of alchemy powers in their desire to survive.”

“That’s amazing.”

“You see…” Sugawara returned his gun back to its place, “A big portion of the general military is made up of people who weren’t talented enough to become alchemists. Myself included.”

Daichi lightly smacked Sugawara on the back, “Don’t say it like that; you’ll make him think you are still depressed over that.”

Sugawara grinned, “Oh yeah, sorry. I’m pretty happy being the head of the general military and the Major General’s babysitter. They call me Sharpshooter Suga.”

Hinata’s eyes gleamed, “That’s such cool name!

“I’ll just ignore that babysitter comment” Daichi grumbled and stopped at a door labeled V.R.C.S in block letters. “This is the Virtual Reality Combat Simulator. Although it can be used for training as long as you have supervision, it is mostly used for rank testing. If you want to go up in rank, you simply need to take the virtual test assigned to that rank. Of course, the higher you are aiming the harder the test will be.”

“That makes sense. I was wondering how you moved up to be Major General if there haven’t been any wars recently.”

“Exactly. This is how.” Daichi glanced at his watch, “We should head back to the office. Did I miss anything, Suga?”

“You forgot to tell him that everything above this floor is bunks and that each of those floors has its own bathroom, lounging area, gym, and sparring room. Additionally, the health center and tech help are further down this hallway.”

Daichi gave a short nod, “What he said.”

They returned to Daichi’s office and Hinata was instructed to take a seat. Daichi sat down at his desk and passed a small box to Sugawara, who then passed it to Hinata. Inside the box was a black thin bracelet, or maybe anklet, made out of the same material as Daichi’s I.A.T arm plate.

“The reason why you weren’t allowed into the Alchemist Academy is because they deemed you unable to use the I.A.T system. The system is turned on with brainwaves by the way of small receptors implanted near the back of an alchemist’s ear. If your brainwaves are unstable or incompatible with the receptors, then the academy, who implements this I.A.T system, has no place for you.” Daichi tapped his desk, his lips forming a sly grin, “But you didn’t let this get you down. You went back to traditional alchemy by carving a transmutation circle into those legs of yours. Brave and resilient—exactly the kind of alchemist we need at my base.”

Hinata’s cheeks turned a pale shade of pink, “Thank you, Major General. And this is…?”

“It’s an alchemy tracker. It logs the time and place you use your fire alchemy and you must wear it on your ankle at all times.” Daichi sighed and placed his arms on his table, “The higher-ups see a lot of potential in you but they are also nervous. The important thing about the I.A.T system is that like fingerprints, there is one unique transmutation circle for every State Alchemist. The receptor logs when a State Alchemist activates the I.A.T and since the digital and brain data for each transmutation circle is unique, when State Alchemists use their power on an object or a person, traces of that data are left behind.”

“And that’s something traditional alchemy doesn’t have…”

“Exactly. The I.A.T system makes it possible to track what State Alchemist might have committed a crime, broken a rule, or killed someone with their alchemy. Additionally, the I.A.T can only be turned on by its assigned receptor, so enemy can’t steal I.A.T and use it for evil. If it does get stolen, in order to keep the system mechanics secret, the user can send a signal so it self-destructs.” Daichi leaned back on his chair with an exhausted sigh and glanced at Sugawara.

Sugawara walked over to Hinata and placed a gentle hand on his head, “This is just to make the higher-ups feel at ease. We know you aren’t capable of doing any innocent people harm.”

Hinata nodded, “Yeah, I understand.” He took the anklet out of the box and put it on his right leg, snapping it closed. “It looks pretty cool.”

“Good, then—“ There was a ringing sound and Daichi reached under his desk, “Right on time. The rest of our team is here.” He got up from his chair and stood besides Sugawara.

Hinata stood up and turned towards the doors, his face lighting up as other guys dress in the state alchemist uniforms walked closer to them. The five of them stood in a line, each with a different I.A.T and uniquely customized uniform, as well as a mutual sense of pride. These were the valued State Alchemists of the Tokyo base.

“First there is our honorary member, Sharpshooter Suga, and me, the Iron Fort Alchemist.”

_Oh, that explains all the metal._

Daichi cleared his throat, “Then, starting from your left is First Lieutenant Nishinoya, the Roaring Thunder Alchemist; First Lieutenant Tanaka, the Quick Burst Alchemist; Major Tsukishima, the Voltaic Alchemist; Major Yamaguchi, the Astral Alchemist; and finally your partner, Major Kageyama, the Crystal Aconite Alchemist.”

Hinata’s eyes darted to Kageyama and looked him up and down. Dark hair, blue eyes, and a stoic expression—he definitely wasn’t the life of the party. Hinata smirked, almost sure that Kageyama's alchemy element was something cold, just like his demeanor. It was fine; he always liked a challenge.

“And then there is you, Major Hinata Shouyou, the Kindling Alchemist.” Daichi’s lips formed a wide smile, “Welcome.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Woah, what have I dug myself into. This is my first complicated, action heavy fic with actual main character death (and I promise I'll be suffering with you), so it takes a lot out of me to write each chapter. Please leave kudos and comments; I really need the encouragement! Also, subscribe because updating will be erratic.
> 
> Sketches of the customized uniforms for the Tokyo base alchemists [here](http://dontperishyet.tumblr.com/post/125738507176/the-kindling-alchemist-a-futuristic-fma-au-fic)
> 
> If you like my writing, I have other Haikyuu!! fics [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kvhottie/pseuds/kvhottie/works?fandom_id=758208)
> 
> Also, follow me on [tumblr](http://www.dontperishyet.tumblr.com)! Lets be friends and come take guesses at which characters are going to be the Homonculi (or anything else you want to spazz about. I might give hints to future plot points ;P )


	2. Prickling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Amazing fanart: [Here](http://dontperishyet.tumblr.com/post/126799428666/bbxn-the-crystal-aconite-alchemist-the) and [Here](http://dontperishyet.tumblr.com/post/127772886941/the-newbie-state-alchemists-from-my-fic-the)
> 
> Clothes and I.A.T sketches: [Here](http://dontperishyet.tumblr.com/post/125738507176/the-kindling-alchemist-a-futuristic-fma-au-fic)

These were his comrades. He was now part of something bigger than himself—bigger than his past.

Hinata gave a quick bow and rose up with a giddy smile, “I’m glad to be part of this team”.

Tanaka stepped forward with his hands tucked in his pockets and chest puffed out, his face contorting into an exaggerated scowl, “Wait just a minute. Who said we were going to accept you so easily? You have to pass the test.”

“Not again.” Daichi sighed and made his way back to his desk. Sugawara followed him and they proceeded to whisper to each other about some other matter, already used to the shenanigans of their team.

“Oh! Yes, you have to pass _that_ test. Good thinking, Ryuu.” Nishinoya pranced over to Hinata and draped an arm around his neck, “Time to show us what you’re made of newbie.”

Hinata just stared at him, a bit too distracted by the golden tuff in the front of his head and the overpowering confidence packed into a body even smaller than Hinata’s own. He was warm, and absolutely brilliant, with bolts of life exuding from him. Hinata chuckled, knowing that he should probably be feeling some nervousness at the moment, that somewhere in his mind there should be a fear of rejection, but instead he was bubbling with excitement.

“Sure. What’s the test?”

“Shouldn’t we first test if he can reach his bunk?” Tsukishima sneered, arms crossed in front of his chest. Hinata looked over at him, his eyes unconsciously scanning him with anger-laced curiosity. Although he was ridiculously tall, definitely towering over most of the team, Yamaguchi and Kageyama weren’t that much shorter. _What the hell do these guys eat to get this tall?_ There was now a teeny bit of hope in the corner of Hinata’s mind that the base’s food would help him grow a few inches.

“Okay you guys, time to take this outside.” Hinata felt a soft hand on top of his head and turned around to a smiling Sugawara. “Don’t worry too much Hinata, they are just going to have you spar with them a bit.”

Hinata nodded and let Nishinoya pull him outside by the arm, the lieutenant’s excited chants ringing in his ear. Tanaka joined Nishinoya in his shouting, patting both Tsukishima and Kageyama roughly on the back in an attempt to get a reaction, or just as a gesture to remind them that their participation was mandatory.

They rode the elevator to the fifth floor. Tanaka and Nishinoya’s voices bounced off the polished metal walls and filled the already heavy, hot air between all of them. Hinata was squished to the opposite side of the elevator from Kageyama but he would occasionally catch that cold stare piercing him. Kageyama was trying to read him, as if by analyzing his physical features and initial impression he could assess his usefulness, his strength, maybe even his worth. They made eye contract again, their stares matching in intensity, and Hinata gave Kageyama a sly grin, his eyebrow raising in a challenge; he wasn’t going to let Kageyama sum him up just like that.

The elevator beeped open and they strolled to the sparring room with Nishinoya and Tanaka leading the pack. The metal door slid open to reveal a huge room that was easily as big as a school gym and plated in panels of a somewhat cushiony black material.

Hinata pressed his foot into the floor, “What is this stuff?”

“Non-conductive carbonplast.” The low voice made it’s way out of the crowd to stand right besides Hinata; it was Kageyama. He quickly glanced down at Hinata and then walked forward, pressing a square panel on the closest wall. “Every inch of this room is resistant to damage done by alchemy and can withstand most modern weapons. These panels open up by combining pressure and fingerprints, and hold various practice weapons.”

“Awesome.” Hinata walked up to Kageyama and pressed a lower panel to reveal short daggers. He peered up with a teasing smile, “So you guys don’t rely on your fancy alchemy tech for everything?”

“Of course not. That’d be stupid” Kageyama spat. “We have basic knowledge of most martial arts and can proficiently wield every weapon in this room”.

Nishinoya paced further into the room and bent down to open a black panel on the floor. “A soldier who is not well-rounded is no soldier at all”, he stated as he selected options in a holographic menu. “It’s one of the many ideas that were drilled into us at the academy.” After he was done a blue glow surrounded the ten by ten area in front of him and the black panels opened up to reveal dirt ground beneath them. He turned around with a wide grin, “Time to start initiation.”

“What’s this for?” Hinata questioned as he pointed at the glowing area.

“So you lack both in height and common sense. No wonder they paired you with Kageyama.” Tsukishima commented with a smirk, “Lieutenant Nishinoya just set a sparring area. An invisible containment field now surrounds the area and it will keep all the alchemy inside the set parameters.”

Yamaguchi snickered, “Tsukki, Kageyama heard that.”

“Huh.” Hinata scratched his head, “This is so different from what I’m used to.”

“What’s that city boy?” Tanaka roared, “You looking down on our facilities?”

Hinata waved his hands defensively, “No, no! They are a lot nicer than the old boxing gym I used to train in.”

“Oh.” Tanaka chuckled, “Good then. You’ll get used to them by the time we are done with you today.”

“Okay! On to the rules of today’s sparring matches!” Nishinoya yelled, turning his wrist to show them his watch, “Each of us will have five minute matches with Shouyou. Power levels set anywhere from medium to high, but certainly far from lethal. We don’t want to seriously injure our adorable new teammate on the first day. Shouyou, as long as you are standing at the end of the match it’s your win. Win 3 out of the 5 matches today and we won’t make you sleep in the haunted closet on the 3rd floor.”

Hinata shuddered, “Okay. I just need to win 3 of them, right? I can do that.”

“You so sure about that?” Tanaka rolled his neck, “I’ll take you on first, fire boy.”

“And it’s settled. The Kindling Alchemist’s first match will be with the Quick Burst Alchemist,” Nishinoya narrated.

Hinata followed Tanaka into the sparring area, a strange tickling sensation overcoming him when he passed through the invisible containment field. The rest of his teammates circled the outside of the area in curiosity and peered through the containment field at the two contesters; even Tsukishima seemed interested in the outcome of this match. Hinata scuffed his foot against the ground and rubbed the sweat off his hands on his uniform. This was his first time fighting against a real alchemist. Every time he’d train so far, including the state alchemy exam, he had fought either against droids or a virtual alchemist. Even if he did come out winning today, he was sure to get a great number of new scars. He probably should start getting used to ending the day full of ache again. Not that he was complaining—he did have an almost masochistic love for alchemy, after all.

Nishinoya cleared his throat, “The fight will commence in 3…2…1!”

The moment Nishinoya whistled Hinata pressed into his toes and jumped forward, eyes widening midair when the ground near where he was standing cracked with an explosion. He landed on his hands and activated the ignition clicker in his legs while transitioning into a front handspring to shorten the distance between them. He had to keep moving or Tanaka was going to hit him with an explosion. Hinata kept a close watch on Tanaka’s hands; he had twin I.A.T rings on his middle fingers that projected orange transmutation circles right above his palm. Hinata did a front aerial and sent two burst of flames towards Tanaka to occupy him, running right behind the fire to engage in hand-to-hand combat. But Tanaka had blocked the fire with a dirt wall and expertly aimed an explosion in the direct running line between them. Hinata managed to avoid the brunt of the explosion by pure instinct, jumping to the side while kicking a huge wall of flames at Tanaka. He then dashed around the new wall Tanaka made and went at him with a roundhouse kick, his leg lit in flames. Tanaka blocked him with his upper arm and stumbled back with deafening curses. Hinata ducked, sweeping a leg under Tanaka to send him falling and get in a good hit, but a whistle declared the end of the match.

“Shouyou’s win!” Nishinoya yelled.

Tanaka sprawled on the ground with a loud sigh, “You’re like a deadly grasshopper.”

Hinata stood upright and huffed, wiping the sweat from his forehead, “And you were so freaking cool. But I know you weren’t being even half serious.”

“Well,” Tanaka chuckled and extended an arm towards Hinata, “It’s a bit hard controlling combustion alchemy so I had to keep myself reigned in or you might have been missing a piece by now.”

Hinata pulled him up, his nose scrunching from the disturbing mental picture, “I appreciate that.”

Tanaka patted Hinata on the back, “Good luck with these other guys. My alchemy is pretty straight forward compared to theirs.”

Hinata gave him a small smile, “I can handle them!” Though truthfully, he was mostly talking to himself. He felt proud and happy that he was able to make it through the fight with a lieutenant, even if said lieutenant was using less than half his power, and undeniably excited to encounter more alchemy types, but he still couldn't help the nervous acid in his stomach.

Tanaka stepped out of the sparring area and was greeted by Nishinoya with a hard rub of the head and teasing—something a long the lines of ‘how can a lieutenant let himself be shown up by a newbie’. Tanaka’s cheeks lit up in slight embarrassment and he insisted that Hinata’s fighting style was a major curveball. Hinata stretched and steadied his breathing while he had the chance; if the rest of them have more complicated alchemy styles than Tanaka he was going to have trouble figuring out how to effectively counteract their attacks. Hinata shook his head vigorously to clear his thoughts, alchemy had always been instinctual thing for him and there wasn’t a reason to change that right now. He’d just have to deal with things as they happen.

Nishinoya walked around the containment field, grabbed both Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, and ignoring a slew of complaints and grumbles, pushed them into the sparring area.

“Since Shouyou gave us such a stellar performance during the first round, lets make things a little more fun! The Kindling Alchemist versus the synchronized newbie duo: the Voltaic Alchemist and the Astral Alchemist.”

“Noya, that’s almost cruel” Tanka commented, jabbing Nishinoya in the side.

“No it’s not! It’ll be fun. And Shouyou gets to do two matches at one time like this!”

“Good.” Tsukishima pulled his hands out of his pockets with a shrug,” One less match to sit through.”

“Even though you were so into the previous match?” Yamaguchi grinned, shooting Tsukishima a knowing glance.

Tsukishima pushed his glasses up, “Shut up, Yamaguchi. Just do your part. We’re winning this.”

“Okay, Tsukki!”

Hinata took a deep breath and wiggled his fingers to get circulation back into his clammy hands. He was sure the tactics he used with Tanaka were not going to work on these two. Not only was he at a disadvantage since they had already seen so many of his abilities, there being two of them also made hand-to-hand combat a bad idea. _Focus._ He should rely on his firepower and overwhelm them using direct, long-distanced attacks. That might work…maybe.

“Commencing the Kindling Alchemist versus the Voltaic Alchemist and Astral alchemist fight in 3…2…1!”

And without a pause Hinata clicked his igniter and launched a huge wall of fire towards his two opponents. Yamaguchi stepped forward, his I.A.T collar necklace projecting a large purple transmutation circle in front of him, and formed a rock wall to block the fire. Dirt spikes progressed rapidly towards Hinata and encroached all around him. Hinata transmuted a rock pillar that raised him high enough in the air to jump over the barrage of spikes and tried to dash around to Yamaguchi’s blind spot, but Tsukishima charged at him with rock batons that he must have transmuted from the ground. Well, at least Tsukishima was a bit more merciful than Hinata expected; those batons could have easily been made out of metal. Hinata ducked Tsukishima’s first swing by tucking back into a handstand and propelling upwards to Tsukishima’s chin with both feet. He missed, Tsukishima having read his movements and taken a few calculated steps backwards in preparation for a counterattack, but Hinata laced a ring a fire around him in order to stop his movements. But all of a sudden a wave of steam hit them both and he lost view of Tsukishima in the now misty arena.

They were trying to cloud his vision to set up for for a surprise attack. On top of that, the air was wet, making it difficult for Hinata to get a strong fire going. He first needed to work on drying the air around him and then set up a wall of fire to protect himself from any sneak attacks—not that they’d ever give him the chance to focus on doing just that. A dark shadow approached him from the left and he sidestepped, swinging his leg to hit it straight in the rib. However, his leg went right through the figure and Hinata realized too late that it was just an illusion made of mist. Before he had time to react he saw the glint of yellow transmutation circles from the corner of his eye and felt a crackling bolt travel up from his hip, the tingles fading along with his consciousness.

* * *

 

Hinata woke up with a start, his eyes snapping open to a blindingly white medical room and an itchy, sore hip. He sat up and lifted his shirt to inspect the injury he got from Tsukishima, but there was nothing there.

“It was just swollen and had a slight burn. I healed it but you can probably still feel it because of the remaining memory of the injury.”

The quiet voice came from a man with neck-length brown hair standing by the left side of the bed. He was sporting a shy smile and his hands tugged down at his faded superman t-shirt. Hinata blinked away the haze still floating in his mind and tilted his head to the side in inquisition, “You’re wearing a white jacket so you must be a doctor, right?”

He chuckled and rubbed the back of his neck, “I know I don’t look it but yeah, I’m Asahi, the base’s main doctor.”

Hinata’s eyes widened, “Wait did you say you healed me? How? With alchemy? “

“Yeah, I can use Reiki healing alchemy. It’s easier to use than medical technology when dealing with smaller injuries.”

“Wow. There’s all these ways alchemy can be used that I never knew about.”

“You’re doing just fine!” Nishinoya exclaimed as he strode towards them, his face lit up with relief, “ You’ve been sleeping for quite a while so we were a bit worried there. Tsukishima has no sense of mercy.”

Asahi nodded, “I figured it was Tsukishima. But Hinata is fine now so you should take him to dinner.”

“You should join us.” Nishinoya grinned up at Asahi and tucked a few strands of hair behind his ear, “Your hair is a mess. Were you napping on the job?”

“I wasn't! And I ate with Ennoshita and some of the other general troops a little while ago.”

“Well, I’m stealing you tomorrow, then.” Nishinoya pulled the rolling chair closer, “Sit. I want to fix your hair.”

“Aren’t you supposed to take Hinata to dinner?” Asahi mumbled, his cheeks dusting with light pink.

“It’ll just take a minute. You don't mind, right Shouyou?”

“Ah, of course not!” Hinata stuttered.

Nishinoya smirked, “You see. It’s fine, so sit still.”

“Okay.”

Hinata silently played with the white sheet covering him, unsure of what to do while Nishinoya and Asahi got lost in their own little world. He wasn’t completely oblivious; the vibe between them wasn’t only friendly, it was also intimate in another sense. Maybe he was overthinking it. After all, his parents had often talked about the life-long friends they had made from being in the military. It could be that living together and being responsible for each other’s lives formed deeper bonds than your usual friendship; a bond that was so strong it blurred conventionally boundaries. Hinata shook his head— all this thinking was giving him a headache. And he had gotten so caught up in his thoughts that Nishinoya had already finished styling Asahi’s hair.

“So pretty.” Hinata let unconsciously slip out.

“What do you mean pretty?” Asahi whined, “What did you do Nishinoya?”

Nishinoya put his hands on his hips with pride, “Don’t worry Asahi, it looks good on you.”

Asahi walked over to a silver locker in the corner of the room and opened it, staring at himself in the mirror hanging on the door. Nishinoya had braided the top of Asahi’s hair into an intricate crown and left the rest loose in a half up half down hairdo. It strangely suited Asahi’s gentle disposition and almost made Hinata want to go find flowers to adorn the braided crown with.

“It does look good on you, Asahi-san!” Hinata insisted.

“I don’t think it suits me…” Asahi sighed but offered a tiny smile, “I’ll keep it, though. Thanks.”

“Anytime. But okay, Hinata slept through lunch so he must be starving by now. I’ll see you later, Asahi.”

“Okay, see you later.

Hinata jumped off the bed and slipped into his shoes, “Thank you for healing me!”

Asahi waved, “Try not to get hurt too often, Hinata.”

“I’ll try!”

Hinata followed Nishinoya out of the medical room and managed to keep up with his lieutenant’s surprisingly quick pace while taking note of where the medical room was. Just like Sugawara had said, it was further down the curved hallway from the V.R.C.S room. The slight familiarity with the set up of the floor drew a smile from Hinata; he didn’t have to be impatient—this place would feel like home in a blink of an eye.

“We’re having a welcoming dinner for you.” Nishinoya pressed the 2nd floor button in the elevator, “Even Major General Daichi and Colonel Sugawara are joining us.”

“Really? What about the other matches?”

Nishinoya chuckled and squeezed Hinata’s shoulder, “That’s enough initiation for today. You should just take it easy. You’ll have enough chances to spar with us from now on.”

“I lost didn’t I?” Hinata pouted, “Are you guys going to make me sleep in the haunted closet?”

“No, no. I think Tsukishima gave you enough punishment.”

Hinata sighed, “Good.”

They walked into the bustling dinning hall and weaved around the lines in front of the food stations, passing rowdy tables of men dressed in darker uniforms in search of their own. _These are the general troops, huh._ The rest of their team was at a long table by the corner of the cafeteria. Nishinoya pushed him to the empty seat by Sugawara and went to sit next to Tanaka a few seats away. Hinata slowly slid into his chair, flashing a small smile to Kageyama who was sitting directly in front of him. It wasn’t reciprocated but Kageyama kept staring at him even after they had broken eye contact. _This guy is beyond socially awkward._

Daichi, who was sitting in front of Sugawara, turned towards Hinata, “It’s good to see that you are okay. I apologize for the rough first day.”

Hinata shook his head, “It’s okay. I thought it was very fun!”

“And I hope you continue thinking that…” Daichi murmured and turned back to Sugawara.

It sounded a bit ominous. Hinata understood that this was the military and not a sleep away camp; he was supposed to be a bit more serious, mature, and delicate about how he approached his new position. But he couldn’t help show his excitement. Though, the Major General didn’t seem to phrase it in a sarcastic manner, it was more…nostalgic. And deep in his gut Hinata understood what he meant by that tone—staying at this base would change him from cheery and upbeat to something much different.

“Hey idiot, you should probably stop daydreaming if you want to get food.”

The low vibrations of that condescending voice snapped Hinata back to reality, “You know, Kageyama, was it? I feel like you shouldn’t be calling your partner an idiot on the first day.”

“You look like an idiot always smiling like that.” Kageyama stood up and paced to the end of the table, “And I haven’t actually accepted you as my partner yet. Not until you spar with me.”

“Yet you still waited for me…” Hinata grinned.

“It’s because the Major General and the Colonel told me to be nice,” Kageyama sputtered as he marched off to the food booths were the rest of the team was.

“Hey, wait up!” Hinata jogged while laughing to himself. Kageyama was going to be a fun case to crack.

Hinata licked his lips as he glanced around the cafeteria and weighed his options; he was really craving yakisoba. But he also wanted a burger. Hinata walked to Kageyama who was ordering three orders of yakisoba and tapped him on back, “Is there a limit to how much food we can get?”

Kageyama pursed his lips in thought, “No, I don't think so. I get a ton of food and they haven’t scolded me for it. Just don't go crazy.”

“I wont!” He exclaimed, now also craving ramen.

Hinata walked back to the table with a few plates of food and wordlessly plopped down to devour them. He wasn’t sure if it was a consequence of using any form of alchemy or if it was the intensity of his own alchemy and how it interacted with his body, but Hinata had an unusually big appetite. He thought that after puberty his appetite would decrease and stabilize somewhat, but even now, at 18 years old, he ate at least three times his size. But luckily he wasn’t the only spectacle at the table. Kageyama was also scarfing down an insane amount of food. If they couldn’t find anything else to bond over, at least they could talk about their ridiculous appetites.

The rest of the dinner was pretty uneventful. Hinata just listened in to the conversations Daichi was having with the other members of the team. At one point Daichi addressed him again to explain that the alchemists are sometimes sent on missions to solve something alchemy related or to resolve a problem in which the use of alchemy could be the most efficient course of action. He then reminded the team to support Hinata as best they could and left the table with Sugawara to attend a meeting with the higher-ups. The rest of the team got up from the table at their own pace, leaving Kageyama and Hinata alone to themselves.

Kageyama wiped his lips with a napkin, “Are you done eating? I need to show you where our room is.”

“Our room?”

“Yeah, partners share a room.” Kageyama stacked his empty plates on top of each other, “We will have to spend a lot of time together, whether we like it or not.”

Hinata followed Kageyama to the closest dish drop-off, careful to balance his plates and cups while mulling this new information over, “So does that mean you’ve just been by yourself this whole time? Everyone else always hangs out with their partner but you haven’t had one.”

“It's whatever,” Kageyama muttered, furrow between his eyebrows deepening, “It’s not like we’ve been at the base for that long. I’ve managed.”

“Oh.” Hinata whispered as he came to the realization that he had probably stepped on a landmine. He placed his plates down at the drop-off and patted Kageyama on the back, “Well now you have me, so you don't have to feel lonely anymore.”

Kageyama swatted Hinata’s hand away, “I never said I felt lonely. Also, I haven’t yet decided if having you here is for better or for worse.”

“I know, I know. You have to spar with me first.” Hinata’s lips curved into side grin, “Why don’t we have a little sparring match before you show me the room?”

“You just got out of the infirmary.” Kageyama walked briskly to the exit of the cafeteria, “No matter what you do, you’re going to lose.”

“Don’t be so sure.” Hinata challenged, his shorter legs keeping in stride with Kageyama’s longer ones.

“We have opposite elements and I have a better control of mine. It’s obvious I’ll win.”

“I knew it. You have ice powers!” Hinata huffed; they were basically speed walking by this point. “And that doesn’t matter. I’ll surprise you.”

Kageyama stopped abruptly in front of the elevator and stared down at Hinata, “I doubt that. I’ve seen all your tricks from the previous matches.”

Hinata slammed his hand on the up button, gleaming eyes still glued to Kageyama’s, “I’m going to make you eat your words.”

* * *

 

“This is why I never like taking orders from Pride. This base is tiny. It looks like such a bore.”

The brunette stretched his arms above his head as he got off the alley wall and walked into the silver of moonlight skittering through the narrow darkness. His black, formfitting clothing caught some of the light as he stood with his hands on his hips, staring at the Sendai Alchemy Base a few miles away.

“Why do I have to share the leader position with him? We never agree on anything. Are you listening, Iwa-chan?”

Iwaizumi approached Oikawa with a gruff sigh, “I’ve told you countless times before, Envy, don’t call me that. That name is dead.”

“But that’s better than calling you Wrath.”

Iwaizumi flicked Oikawa’s forehead, “I’m warning you. I’ll punch you next time.”

“Ow. Fine.” Oikawa rubbed at the spot, “Hey, don’t you think Sendai is a bit chilly for springtime?”

“If you weren’t wearing a freaking crop top, maybe you wouldn’t think that.”

“Eh, it’s grown on me. And stop acting like you don't think I look good in it.” Oikawa flashed Iwaizumi a smug grin, “You especially liked those biker shorts Father used to make me wear back then.”

“No, I did not. I get less irritated looking at you now that you wear actual pants and shoes.” Iwaizumi shook his head and fastened the front of his sword holster, “Let’s stop this stupid conversation. We have a job to do.”

“Okay, okay.” Oikawa licked his lips, his eyes turning sharp with anticipation, “Time to have some fun.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Finally, the introduction to what will become one of my favorite characters aside from the Tokyo Base Alchemists: Oikawa as Envy! Sorry the updates take so long. Every chapter requires an immense amount of research and planning, so it takes a lot out of me. To keep me encouraged please leave comments and share this with everyone you know! If you like it please post about it, recommend it, tweet about it, or even tell your mailman! I'd really appreciate it. :3
> 
> Art of Homunculi Iwaoi: [Here](http://natroze.tumblr.com/post/131771202204/so-the-wonderful-dontperishyet-is-giving-me-an)
> 
> Ps. I dedicate the AsaNoya flirting scene to the lovely [Cristine](http://boniebelle.tumblr.com/) and her amazing art. 
> 
> If you like my writing, I have other Haikyuu!! fics [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kvhottie/pseuds/kvhottie/works?fandom_id=758208)
> 
> Also, follow me on [tumblr](http://www.dontperishyet.tumblr.com)! Lets be friends and come take guesses at which characters are going to be the other Homonculi (or anything else you want to spazz about. I might give hints to future plot points ;P )


	3. What It Means to Touch

"There is no time limit." Kageyama stated as he stepped through the invisible containment field. "I know you can't win against me, so I just want to see how you move. I'll be surprised if you can get even one decent hit off of me."

Hinata rolled his eyes and lunged from side to side to get his legs warmed up, "That's some confidence you got there."

"With reason, I graduated number one in the combat class at the academy."

"So that means if I beat you, I'd be better than everyone in your graduating class?" Hinata glanced up, eyes sharp and focused.

Kageyama grinned, "Now, _that's_ some confidence you got there—only yours is unreasonable." Kageyama spread his legs shoulder width apart and placed both arms, rigid, bent at the elbow, and opened handed, a few inches in front of him. The inside of his hands were now glowing, small transmutation circles on each joint of his fingers and a bigger one covering his palm. "Let's start already."

"That nanotech implantation must have cost a fortune." Hinata whistled, clicking his igniter and covering his legs with flames, "So my partner really is a young master. No wonder."

"You talk too much." Kageyama muttered as ice enveloped his hands and he lunged forward, whipping his arm to make contact with Hinata's face. Hinata blocked with a ridiculously quick axe kick and pressed his scorching leg against Kageyama's unyielding arm, the heat from his flames slowly melting the crystalized surface. Steam filled the air between them as they continued pushing against each other, using the few seconds to decide their next move. Hinata withdrew a bit of strength and then suddenly snapped his leg down on Kageyama's arm, using the momentum to bring his other leg up to kick a fireball straight into the cocky young master's face. Kageyama stayed anchored, bringing his other arm up to block the fireball with an ice shield on his forearm. Hinata landed in a backhand spring and pushed off into a few backflips to add some distance between them. Kageyama was too good to carelessly challenge in close combat.

"Not bad." Kageyama scoffed, palms turned upwards, "But even at a distance you'll still be shit." From where he was standing a thick sheet of smooth ice rapidly spread across the floor, chasing after Hinata.

Hinata popped back onto his legs, shoes slipping a bit on the ice now covering the ground beneath him, and slammed his foot down onto the glassy surface. He tried to form a crack to feed his fire in and melt the area under him, but it was futile, Kageyama's ice overpowered his fire. Now that Kageyama made all of the area his turf, Hinata had no choice but to constantly be on the offense. _Okay…hard, but not impossible._ He needed a new approach—not that Kageyama would give him any time to think of one. With just a jerk of his wrist, hundreds of ice hands shot up from the ground to grab at Hinata. He attempted to escape by forming stone pillars from under the ice and getting higher up in the air, but the ice was keeping the pillars contained. Kageyama's control of the ice was fast, ridiculous strong, and seemingly impenetrable.

"Crap." Hinata cursed under his breath as he jumped over an ice hand coming at his left. His only choice was to get close again and take out Kageyama. Hinata ran towards him, using spurts of fire at his heel to give him a speed boost and to weave around the attacking hands. Now a foot or two away, he jumped into a front aerial, sending the biggest burst of flames he could muster. Kageyama extended an ice hand to catch Hinata's attack, but having guessed that's what he would do, Hinata did a straight-leg slide under the hand in an attempt knock Kageyama off his feet and deliver the finishing blow. That's what he would have _liked_ to happen. Instead, the ice hand suddenly turned towards him and its fingers shot down around him, trapping him flat between its palm and the icy ground. With slow creaks the fingers wrapped tightly around Hinata and displayed him to a complacent Kageyama.

"You are too easy to read, dumbass."

"Shut up. And let me go." Hinata hissed, the ice now creeping onto his skin and uniform. It was suffocating, especially when it spread across the transmutation circles on his legs.

"You should at least be able to break yourself out." Kageyama folded his arms across his chest and watched Hinata closely.

"Kageyama, I swear…" Hinata clicked his igniter. _He wanted the ice gone._ Click. _Right now_. By the third click the ice hand was ablaze and rapidly melted around Hinata.

"So you aren't totally useless."

Hinata glared at Kageyama, steam rising from his clothes as he dried his uniform with the heat from the wall of fire surrounding him. " Again," he spat.

 

* * *

 

"Where are the rest of us?" Oikawa asked as he pulled out a chair at the head of the table, "I thought it was decided we would have a meeting tonight? Lust, report."

Kuroo looked up, continuing to run his hands through the head of pudding-colored hair resting on his lap, "Well, there are the four of us here. Pride is upstairs dealing with his Alchemist Academy brats—though he should be done soon since curfew has passed. Greed is always off somewhere working on his own, you know that. Pride probably has him on a solo mission. And Gluttony...well." Kuroo sighed, "That kid is always MIA. Last I heard he was supposed to be getting friendly with some big shot at the Nagoya base. Brigadier General Akaashi was his name, I think."

Iwaizumi took a seat next to Oikawa, "At least it'll be five of us. I'm sure Pride will take care of letting the others know."

"Well, if Pride would have made sure they actually attend the meeting instead of giving them solo missions—without consulting me, by the way—we wouldn't have this damn problem." Oikawa bit his lip, "Pride always acts like he's the leader even though we are _sharing_ leadership. Stupid giant."

"Who's the stupid giant, Envy?" A deep voice bounced off the bare walls of the small room, "It's exactly that kind of immaturity that makes me question your abilities as a leader."

Oikawa stood up and marched straight at Ushijima, stopping only centimeters away, "You, listen. The only reason I put up with you all these years is because you are ridiculously strong and I would never get rid of an asset. But you need to stop with the condescending tone and start respecting me more. We've made it this far because _both_ of us were leading. Don't think that you would have gotten anywhere without me."

Ushijima looked down at Oikawa with a blank expression, "You're right. But I've never been condescending." He turned around to close the door behind him.

"Ugh!" Oikawa stormed back to his seat, face a few shades redder than before. "I'm going to get a fucking aneurysm dealing with this man," he muttered under his breath.

Kuroo laughed, "Envy, he's just honest to a fault. Don't let it get to you so much."

Oikawa took a deep breath and ran his hand through his hair, "…Let's start the meeting. Lust, please wake Sloth up."

"I'm up…" Kenma mumbled, slowly sitting up, rubbing his eyes, and then following Kuroo to the table.

Once all of them were sitting across one another Oikawa began, "Okay. Wrath, report on our mission to the Sendai base."

Iwaizumi cleared his throat, "It was successful. It was a bit difficult killing the Major General without the others finding out, but we did it. Envy will be taking his place for a while and has introduced me as a new recruit from another base. We'll gather as much information as we can and then finish killing everyone else."

"Pride?" Oikawa shot a glance across the table, "How are the operations at Laboratory 76? Have we've been able to replace the staff we lost since we killed father and the rest of those stupid scientists?"

"They weren't stupid." Ushijima noted in complete monotone, "For humans, all of them were quite intelligent. But we didn't need people who betrayed our goals."

"He didn't mean they were _actually_ stupid, Ushi." Kuroo teased, lips raised at the corners to form that smug smile that never seemed to leave his face.

"Don't call me that." Ushijima warned, voice a bit lower than usual, " One of our oldest rules is that our former names are dead. Both you and Envy need to get that through your heads."

Iwaizumi nodded, "He's got a point with that one."

"Yeah, yeah, yeah." Oikawa slammed his hand on the table, "... _focus_ , guys. Pride, Laboratory 76, report."

"It's going as planned. I've hand picked some of the best personnel we had at the academy and convinced them to work for me at the laboratory under the guise that this research would strengthen the I.A.T system."

"Good." Oikawa tapped his fingernail on the table, "Are they advancing?"

"They've made remarkable progress in furthering the synchronization of alchemy and technology. It will take a while, but with their research and the addition of the philosopher stones, we will get the outcome we want."

Oikawa grinned, "That's what I like to hear."

"What about us? Is there no need for my Ultimate Spear?" Kuroo asked while arching an eyebrow, his left hand caressing his extended right claws.

Iwaizumi groaned, "Don't you ever get tired of the stupid dick jokes?"

"Lame," Kenma muttered.

"Damn," Kuroo lamented as he retracted his claws, "what a dry crowd tonight."

Ushijima looked around the table, "What dick joke?"

"L-u-s-t." Oikawa sang with a forced smile and icy glare, "Stop derailing the conversation."

Kuroo raised his hands up in surrender, "Yes, sir."

Oikawa looked over at Ushijima, "Pride, where did you send Greed to?"

"Kyoto."

"Hmm. We have Sendai, Nagoya, Kyoto, and Tokyo bases covered for now…" Oikawa's eyes widened as an idea popped into his head, "I have the perfect group of ladies for you flaunt that ridiculously low V-neck off to, Lust."

"…I have a bad feeling about this."

"The Asahikawa Base in Hokkaido, also known as Khione's Lair." Oikawa stuck his tongue out, "We'll see how you and Kenma do against the endless snow and merciless women."

* * *

 

"Do we have to wear our uniform all the time?" Hinata piled his towel onto his head as he followed behind Kageyama, shower caddy swinging on his arm.

"No. But you have to be ready to jump into it in case of an emergency. When we are hanging around this floor and about to go to bed, most of us just wear the undershirt we pair with our uniform and our boxers."

"Boxers?" Hinata grinned, "I couldn't even walk around like that at home…nice."

The black door with 'shower room' written in bold print slid open for Kageyama. "Though I said boxers, it's whatever you usually wear. It's not like if you don't wear boxers it'll be a problem. For example, Nishinoya-san likes to walk around in booty shorts. You're an idiot so I thought I should make that clear."

"I'm not _that_ much of an idiot!" Hinata nudged Kageyama with his elbow, "Thinking I wouldn't get it in the first place makes you sound like an idiot."

Kageyama buried a rough hand in Hinata's hair and pushed him to the closest shower, "Just shut up and shower already. Don't talk big when you look so beat up.

"And whose fault is that? It's not like you got away without a scratch." Hinata stuck out his tongue and walked into the first shower. Like all the other showers in the room, it consisted of two long, parallel black and white tiled walls that hit about shoulder level. Those walls had a somewhat opaque plastic curtain between them and a few carved out cubbies near the entrance to put things like towels and clothes. A foot deeper into the shower, past the cubbies and what served as the changing area, was the actual shower. It was a bit odd that the walls were just short enough so that the other men's faces were visible, but at least it was more private than a communal shower.

And like most things in this base, this too was digital. "What the heck is this?" Hinata exclaimed, looking over to the shower next to his, which Kageyama was using.

Kageyama sighed, "How is it that in this day and age you haven't used a digital shower?"

Hinata shrugged and pressed both the 'on' and 'project' buttons, the only two things on the wall he was facing aside from the showerhead. That pulled up a projected screen with temperature and pressure options, as well as other additional features. "I think it's because my mom likes vintage bathrooms? Which is weird since she is a nanotechnician and our house is pretty modern…but maybe she likes taking a break from it all when she showers. Also, my coach loved bathhouses so I used to go there a lot."

Kageyama leaned a bit over the shower wall they were sharing and pointed at the corner of the screen, "The program has a voice reader so you can set up your name and voice to match a preferred shower setting. That makes things much faster."

 _With him leaning over like that aren't I in full view?_ Hinata peeked at Kageyama, and having caught his eyes by mistake, quickly reverted his attention back to the screen. "I just press this button, say my name, and pick my settings? Then I save?"

"Yeah."

Hinata cleared his voice and pressed the button, "Hinata Shouyou."

"Now set it. You probably like your showers steaming hot."

"Wow," Hinata smirked as his raised the temperature to a point where normal people would find it unbearable, "how did you know?"

"I figured that's the most reasonable explanation for you being so dumb. You must have fried all of your brain cells."

Hinata set the pressure to medium and pressed save, "And I bet you like yours cold and hailing, to match your wonderful personality."

Kageyama furrowed his eyebrow and flicked Hinata in the forehead, returning to his own shower, "I actually like my showers lukewarm and gentle."

"For real?" Hinata chuckled, a genuine and light sound, "That doesn't suit you at all."

"How would you know?" Kageyama grumbled, "You barely know me."

"That's true. I'll update my opinion once I get to know you better."

"As if I'd want that…"

Hinata grinned and rested his chin on the wall between them, shampoo suds covering the orange nest on his head, "But I want to get to know you better, Kageyama. If we're going to be the best team in this base we have to work well together."

"Best team in this base?" Kageyama shut off the shower and slicked his bangs out of his face with a grin, "Now we're talking."

All warmed up and exponentially less sore, the two of them paced back to their room in silence. Hinata tugged at his black nylon undershirt and played with the hem of his red plaid boxers—the freedom to walk around like this was comforting and homely. Kageyama walked besides Hinata with a relaxed expression, sporting a simple black tank top and black boxers. He pressed his hand on the door to room 19 and it slid open, revealing the bedroom they'll be sharing for at least the next year. It was a surprisingly large room with a bunk bed to the farthest right, an open closet sandwiched between two dressers, a mini kitchenette with microwave and fridge in the left corner, and a couch facing the left wall (which Hinata presumed would become a projected TV).

Hinata sighed, although he was pleased by the size and the accommodations, it was just so… _bleak._ He walked over to the room's control manual, "Kageyama, can I change the interior hologram to something a little more lively? This navy and black theme is killing my mood."

Kageyama closed the fridge door, milk carton in hand, "It's whatever. Just don't make it a stupid theme like teddy bears or something."

Hinata pursed his lips, "How old do you think I am?" He scrolled through the options, first picking an ocean theme, only to change it when Kageyama grunted that it was a bit too bright. After a few misses, both of them settled on a simple theme with white walls, and muted blue, yellow, and wooden furnishings. "Okay, that's much better."

"I don't get what you didn't like about the previous holo." Kageyama took a few gulps from the milk carton and returned it to its place in the fridge, "Though this one isn't bad."

Hinata walked over to the stack of boxes sitting by the bed; he still needed to unpack the things they sent over from his house. It wouldn't take too long since they were only allowed three boxes, but he preferred to get it over with sooner rather than later. "Kageyama, is the bottom bunk mine?"

Kageyama looked over his shoulder from the spot he was sitting in on the couch, "Yeah. And the right dresser is yours. And put your initials on anything you put in the fridge or I'll eat it."

"I feel like even if I initial things you would still eat it," Hinata muttered as his popped open the first box in the stack. It contained folded underwear, shirts, and other things he just needed to sort into his drawers. He dragged the box over to his dresser and starting putting everything in its place, underwear in the first drawer, tanks in the second, t-shirts in the third, long sleeves in the forth, then sweaters—it was a system his mom pretty much drilled into him. It would eventually become one big mess but it was good to at least start off right. Doing all of this with only the TV sounds in the background was getting boring, though. "Hey, Kageyama?"

"Hmm?"

"Let's talk while I unpack. It's getting boring and I want to know more about you."

"Listen to music, then. I'm watching something."

Hinata glanced over at the TV screen only to catch close ups of a chef dicing vegetables and simmering a broth, "You're planning to improve your cooking skills? Come on, I know you're just watching that because there is nothing else on."

"I watch it for the food. The food looks delicious."

Hinata sighed, closed the last drawer, and moved on to his second box, "I'll ask the questions. Just answer them, okay?"

"Sure."

"What's your family like?" Hinata reached into the box and took out the ancient iPod player his dad passed on to him. Along with the old iPod he carried around, it was one of one of Hinata's most cherished mementos from his father. While waiting for Kageyama to answer, Hinata wiped off a bit of dust and placed it on top of his dresser.

"…Just me, my mother, and my father. We're a strict military family and we aren't very close. Nothing new."

Hinata squeezed the sun plushy his sister had sown for him and threw it on the bed, "…Are you okay with that? Isn't it lonely?"

"I don't know."

Hinata could hear slight irritation, maybe even sadness, in Kageyama's voice so he changed the subject. "What's your favorite food?"

"Pork curry with egg on top, hands down." Kageyama turned around on the couch and leaned over the backing in excitement, "Man, the chef at my house was only allowed to make it for my birthday but when he did, I was allowed to eat as much of it as I wanted."

Hinata laughed, finding the twinkle in Kageyama's eyes whenever they talked about food a bit endearing, "Do they make it here?"

"It's not as good," Kageyama grumbled, "But at least now I can have it whenever I want…"

Hinata hung the remaining jackets from the bottom of the box at the end of his half of the closet, his spare uniforms taking up most of the front half, "That's good in a way? Do you have a favorite type of music?"

"No. Only classical was allowed in my house. Though I have heard bits of rock and hip hop and thought it sounded cool."

"Oh, man." Hinata turned around, hands on his hips, "We need to expose you to all the great music this world has to offer. You're missing out."

Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows, "…me _missing out_ is basically the story of my life."

Hinata grinned and skipped over to him, patting him on the head, "Don't worry, leave it to me. I'll catch you up in no time."

"I'm not a dog." Kageyama hissed, removing Hinata's hand from his head.

"No, but if you were you'd be a Rottweiler," Hinata retorted. "And not a nice one."

"And you'd be a Chihuahua, because you're tiny and all you do is bark."

"I do much more than ba—

There was a knock on their door and both of them froze. _Maybe they were being too loud_? But the walls seem pretty thick, almost soundproof, so it shouldn't be someone complaining about the noise. Hinata was about to walk over and open the door, but it slid open by itself (since they had forgotten to lock it). Nishinoya and Tanaka barged in with a mountain of snacks at hand, while dragging Yamaguchi and a grouchy Tsukishima behind them.

"It's the Shouyou welcoming committee," yelled Nishinoya, letting all the snacks in his hand fall to the floor in front of the bunk bed. "Everyone gather around! Let's form a circle."

Tanaka waved a snack at Kageyama, "I've got cheese flavored umaibou."

"Yes!" Kageyama turned off the TV, practically jumped over the couch, and rushed to the circle, sitting next to Tanaka who was just piling sticks of umaibou in front of Kageyama.

Hinata chuckled and paced over to the circle, sitting between Kageyama who was now stuffing his face, and Yamaguchi who was trying to get Tsukishima to scoot closer to him. Nishinoya was directly across from Hinata, sitting to the other side of Tanaka. Hinata glanced down at Nishinoya's legs and it was true, he was wearing booty shorts—these in particular were an obnoxiously neon orange color. "…Thank you, Nishinoya-san."

Nishinoya shook his head, "Too stiff! Call me Noya. Actually, even better, call me Noya-senpai."

"Noya-senpai?"

"Yes!" Nishinoya's face melted into a silly grin, "One more time!"

Hinata laughed, "Noya-senpai."

Nishinoya elbowed Tanaka on the side, "You hear that Ryuu?! I'm his senpai."

"No fair, Noya-san! Hinata, call me senpai, too," Tanka complained through a mouth full of cheese balls.

Hinata pointed at a bag of chocolate covered chips near Tanaka's leg, "Tanaka-senpai, can you pass me those?"

"AHHH! He's so cute!" Tanaka yelled as he pulled Nishinoya in for an excited hug. In that position they continued to shout at each other for a minute or so about how happy they were to finally get a respectful, adorable junior.

Tsukishima sighed and passed Hinata the chips, "Here, since your short arms don't reach. Also don't worry about them, they are always this ridiculous."

"…Thanks." Hinata was sure they were just relieved to not get another junior like Tsukishima.

"So Shouyou," Nishinoya started while squeezing himself in between Tanaka's legs and leaning back against him, "Tell us about yourself."

Hinata just stared at them for a moment. _Do they usually act this intimate? Is everyone in this base so close?_ He opened his bag of chips and cleared his throat, "Where do I start?"

Tanaka poked his head out from behind Nishinoya and rested it on his shoulder, "How does your alchemy work? None of us are too familiar with ancient alchemy."

"Oh." Hinata extended his right leg into the middle of the circle, " I have my transmutation circles carved into my prosthetics. In the center of the circle, you see here, there is a tiny hole that opens on my command. I control it with my brain, but it's mostly connected to a certain muscle in my leg that I trained for a long time. Well, on the other side of that circle is something I call an ignition clicker, it clicks at the same time the tiny vent opens. The spark caused by the friction of the ignition clicker is all I need to start the fire I use in my alchemy."

Nishinoya whistled, "Wow, that's really cool."

"So why do you suck so bad at transmuting anything that isn't fire," Tsukishima chimed with his usual shit-face grin.

Hinata glared at Tsukishima and nibbled on a chip, "So, I'm not the brightest person…but both my parents were nanotechnicians for the academy so they've been teaching me about alchemy since I was very young. I swear it's somewhere in my brain, but I can't explain it or understand it the same way as the kids that learn it at the academy. I just feel it almost physically and it happens, fire alchemy is very innate to me…but because I only vaguely understand the exchange of tectonic energy and elements, I suck at transmuting anything else."

"So you're a natural," Kageyama muffled through a cheese umaibou. "You trained fire alchemy to the point that understanding the science behind it doesn't really matter…but that's why you suck. If you understood the fundamentals, your normal creation alchemy and you're fire alchemy would get a million times better."

"But I hate studying," Hinata whined and proceeded to stuff his face with what was left of the potato chip bag.

"We can help you." Nishinoya offered, patting his chest with pride, "We're you're senpai after all."

"Really?!" Hinata's eyes widened, "That'd be awesome."

"Oh, I have a question," Yamaguchi piped up, head gently laying on Tsukishima's shoulder, "What's your family like?"

Hinata's face brightened and he sat up elatedly, "They are super loving and warm. My mother is still a nanotechnician, and I have an adorable little sister named Natsu who wants to be just like my mother when she grows up."

"What about your dad?" Nishinoya asked while reaching for the hi-chews at the center of the circle," You said both your parents were nanotechnicians."

Hinata grew quiet for a few moments as he wondered if it was the right time to tell them. "Um," Hinata hugged his legs, "he was murdered when I was little. The fire the murderers started to cover their tracks was the reason I lost my legs…" He forced a smile, "Sorry to bring the mood down like this. I thought it would be better to get that out of the way since you guys would find out eventually."

The room was silent for a few moments.

"I'm such an idiot." Nishinoya bit his lip, "Sorry I asked Shouyou…"

Hinata shook his head and gave him a tiny smile, "It was years ago. I'm much better now." He stole a cheese umaibou from the now much smaller pile in front Kageyama, "But enough about me. And I already know about Kageyama's family, so what about the rest of you?"

"Hey!" Kageyama complained but Hinata stuffed it in his mouth before he could take it back.

"It's only my mom and pops." Nishinoya explained, "but I never really felt like a only child since I spent most of my time at Ryuu's place."

"My parents and older sister love spoiling Noya-san." Tanaka poked Nishinoya's side, "Sometimes I think they like him more than me."

Nishinoya laughed and tried to grab Tanaka's assaulting hand, "That's not true!"

Hinata looked over at Yamaguchi and Tsukishima, "What about you guys? Are you guys also childhood friends?"

"Yeah, we are." Yamaguchi started, voice soft and somewhat pensive, " We grew up in the same orphanage together. That orphanage feeds into the academy so we decided to become State Alchemists, and now we are here." Yamaguchi intertwined his hand with Tsukishima's and raised them up, "By the way we're dating."

A light splash of red washed over Tsukishima's cheeks and he retracted his hand, tucking it under his other arm, "Shut up, Yamaguchi. He doesn't need to know that."

Yamaguchi grinned and lightly rubbed his head on Tsukishima's shoulder, "Sorry, Tsukki. But I'd feel bad if Hinata was the only one who didn't know."

"Um, that's cool?" Hinata's eyes jumped to Nishinoya and Tanaka, "Are you guys also dating?"

They both burst out laughing. _Loudly_. And for a long enough time that Hinata's face was starting to turn red. He thought he had asked a reasonable question but maybe it was just really stupid.

Nishinoya was the first to stop laughing and he waved his hand in front of him, "No, we aren't dating. Ultra platonic. We've just been around each other for so long we've become super close. Also someone as…uh, active, as me wouldn't work with an ace like Tanaka."

"Ace?"

Tanaka raised his hand with a grin, "I'm asexual."

"Huh…" Hinata nodded, unsure of what to do with all this personal information being thrown at him.

"He can still like people, though. He just doesn't want to bang them. And he _totally_ has a crush on someone in the general military," Nishinoya teased.

"Noya-san!" Tanaka covered Nishinoya's mouth, "That's a secret!"

"Um, good luck!" Hinata encouraged, "You're really cool so I'm sure they'll like you back."

Tanaka pushed Nishinoya to the side and launched himself at Hinata, cradling his head in his arms, "Why can't the rest of our juniors be as adorable as you?!"

Hinata laughed as Tanaka rustled his hair. _It felt nice_. He had always enjoyed friendly intimacy since another human's touch was so warm, "So Noya-senpai. Are you going out with Asahi-san, then?"

Nishinoya smirked, "Something like that."

"Well, " Tsukishima pushed up his glasses, "Now that we've intruded in all our private lives, it's only fair we do it to you Hinata. What's your preference?"

"Uh..." Hinata scrunched his face in thought, "I don't know? I haven't dated anyone or done anything…but I've thought both girls and guys are cute at some point in the past." He pointed to the guy who was finally down to the last cheese umaibou, "What about Kageyama?! We haven't asked him."

"Food and alchemy," Kageyama stated while wiping his lips with his hand, "other than that I am not interested."

"For now, "Nishinoya snickered as he eyed Hinata, "I'm sure if we ask you in a few weeks you'll be giving a very different answer. Especially with someone so cute around you all the time."

"Huh? Who?"

"Noya-senpai!" Hinata stammered, face a light shade of red.

"It's getting late." Tsukishima stood up, pulling Yamaguchi up along with him, "And Kageyama will need a few hours to finally get what you mean Nishinoya-san."

Nishinoya laughed and gathered the remaining snacks, "Yeah, you're right. We should head to bed."

"See you guys bright and early!" Tanaka sang as he ushered everyone outside and closed the door behind him.

Kageyama stood up with his eyebrows furrowed in thought and walked over to the small sink in the kitchenette. Hinata observed as he picked up the toothbrush he had nearby and started brushing his teeth in a daze. Suddenly he whipped around and pointed at Hinata, mouth full of foaming toothpaste, "Oh! He meant you, right?"

Hinata nodded, laughter bubbling in his throat, "Yeah, he did. It didn't take you as long as they said it would."

Kageyama spit out the toothpaste and rinsed his mouth, "I mean, you are tiny and cute, I guess? Like an orange bunny? Well, only when you aren't trying to light me on fire."

Hinata pulled his toothbrush out of his caddy and walked over to the sink, bumping Kageyama out of the way with his hip, "I'll take that as a compliment. And don't stress about it, Noya-senpai was obviously joking."

"Yeah, I know." Kageyama brushed his arm over Hinata's to place his toothbrush back in its place, "I'm going to bed. Turn off the lights after you're done."

Hinata nodded, "Good night."

_Kageyama's skin had been cold to the touch._

It was the total opposite to the warmth Hinata had felt from Tanaka earlier. Just the slight touch was enough to send a tiny shiver up Hinata's spine. _It was strange._ And even after brushing his teeth and turning off the lights, there was still one thought weighing in Hinata's mind. As he let exhaustion slowly pull him deeper into his mattress, Hinata couldn't help but wonder if Kageyama's skin at least warmed up when his fire pressed against it.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> As I said on my other fic, I need to apologize for taking a year to update. I was too busy with my senior year in college and then I fell into a very self-deprecating, depressive authors block. This fic takes extensive amounts of research and planning for every chapter so it was very hard to motivate myself. I'm going to try to keep pushing and hope to update this much more regularly. Please make sure to leave comments and kudos. Anything, even a smilie face, is super encouraging.
> 
> Also please share with friends, on tumblr, on twitter—anything! It would make me so happy if a fic I labor this much over got a bit more love.
> 
> For fluff to heal your soul KageHina Kids on the Slope (jazz) au: [Here](http://archiveofourown.org/works/7168991)
> 
> If you like my writing, I have other Haikyuu!! fics [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kvhottie/pseuds/kvhottie/works?fandom_id=758208)
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](http://www.dontperishyet.tumblr.com)! Lets be friends


	4. The Calm

  
“Kageyama,” Hinata shouted around his toothbrush, “Get up! We need to go to breakfast.”  
   
“I am up,” Kageyama mumbled while still laying on his bed. “I do this every morning. Give me another minute.”  
   
Hinata shrugged and rinsed out his mouth. “Whatever, I’m ditching you if you aren’t dressed by the time I’m ready to leave.” He quickly washed his face and patted it dry as he walked to his closet. Kageyama eventually rose from his bed like zombie, yawning and dragging his feet to the sink in a haze. He went through all the motions of brushing his teeth and washing his face mechanically, and Hinata watched him with an amused grin because it was obvious that the only thing pulling Kageyama along was a routine that had been drilled into him.  
   
Hinata gave his vest a slight tug and looked up at Kageyama who was shuffling into his pants, life now present in his eyes. “Do you know what we are doing today?”  
   
“What we do almost everyday,” Kageyama grumbled as he slipped into his jacket. “Eat and train.”  
   
“Huh.” Hinata scuffed his shoes against the floor. Though eating, hanging out, and training with these guys had been a lot of fun so far, he had always thought that the State Alchemists were much more than just another form of reserved military. Maybe he was wrong.  
   
“Not as glamorous as you thought?” Kageyama questioned and walked ahead to the door. “Thinking too much will hurt your head. Come on.”  
   
“Hey!” Hinata yelled as he ran after him, “You were the slow one.”  
   
When the two of them arrived at their usual table in the dining hall, stacked trays at hand, most of the other alchemists where already there. Hinata and Kageyama sat down next to each other, across from Tanaka and Nishinoya, and began to devour their food.  
   
“Good morning Shouyou, Kageyama,” chimed Nishinoya. “You guys took your sweet time. You just missed the General and Colonel.”  
   
“Kageyama takes forever to get up,” muffled Hinata as he simultaneously tried to eat his bacon strips and pancakes.  
   
“You could have just gone ahead without me,” Kageyama muttered.  
   
“No, we have to be together all the time. It’ll make us better partners.”  
   
Tsukishima set down his glass of water with a scoff. “It’ll take much more than that to get you guys to be compatible.”  
   
Tanaka grabbed Tsukishima’s head and roughly mussed his hair. “Tsukishima, be nice. Do you not have one encouraging bone in your body?”  
   
Yamaguchi chuckled and nudged Tsukishima with his elbow. “He does, you just need to know where to find it.” Yamaguchi placed his forearms on the table and leaned forward. “Hinata, though always hanging out together is important, the fastest way to build good computability is to keep sparring with each other as much as possible. And Kageyama, you also need to put in more effort.”  
   
Nishinoya nodded vigorously and pointed at Kageyama. “Stop being so grumpy. You got yourself a talented and cute new partner! At least try to work with him.”  
   
“I know,” Kageyama relented and silently returned his attention to his pile of food.  
   
Hinata glanced at Kageyama with a satisfied grin—it felt good that despite his icy demeanor, Kageyama has been willing to work towards them being good partners. Hinata sipped some of his orange juice and set the cup down to fork holes into his pancakes. His mind kept returning to what Kageyama had said that morning: “eat and train”. Sure, there was nothing wrong with training everyday, it’d make Hinata stronger than he currently was, but he wondered for what purpose? Hinata swore he’d join the State Alchemists to help people but also to eventually find some clues that could bring light to his father’s murder. He couldn’t really do any of these things as a glorified military reserve.  
   
“You’re looking really serious there,” teased Tanaka. “Did your pancakes do something to you?”  
   
Hinata stopped stabbing his pancakes and looked down at the mess they had become. “Oh.”  
   
Nishinoya laughed and picked up his own fork, spinning it around his fingers. “You shouldn’t be nervous. It seems we’re only training today.”  
   
“That’s what we do everyday.”  
   
“Yeah.” Nishinoya shrugged and said lightly, “We should be grateful that this is what we do most of the time. It’s because we are in times of peace.”  
   
“That’s true…” Hinata picked up his last bacon strip and nibbled on it sullenly.  
   
“Don’t look so disappointed,” assured Tanaka. “We get missions from time to time that deal with disaster relief, counterdrug efforts, illegal weapon export or imports, and some other exciting stuff.”  
   
“Really?” Hinata beamed and leaned forward on the table. “That’s cool!”

“But you only get to go if the General deems you and your partner ready, which won’t happen any year soon,” sneered Tsukishima.  
  
Hinata stuck his tongue out at Tsukishima. “Yes it will!” He then turned to Kageyama with glossy, expectant eyes, “We’ll continue training everyday so we’ll be super compatible, right?”  
  
“As long as you keep up with me.”  
  
Hinata raised his eyebrow and pursed his lips. “Duh, that’s a given.”

* * *

Kageyama took off his jacket when they walked into the training room and shoved it in a cubby near the entrance. Hinata did the same with his vest and stretched his hands above his head as he followed Kageyama further into the room. Once they were a good distance away from the entrance they did their usual warm up routine: thirty burpees, fifty push-ups, fifty high knees, five minutes of crunches, and ten minutes of stretching. It worked up a good sweat and activated their muscles without being overly taxing.  
   
“How do you want to spar today?”  
   
“Hmm,” Hinata rose up from his lunge. “Bare handed? We practiced with weapons yesterday.”  
   
“Okay.” Kageyama took his fighting stance, open hands out in front of him, legs bending slightly. “But try to _not_ kick me in the neck this time. You need to work on your control.”  
   
Hinata chuckled, taking his own stance. “Did it hurt? What’s the point of sparring if we aren’t actually trying to hit each other?”  
   
“There’s a difference between blindly attacking me.” Kageyama swung at Hinata’s face before Hinata had the chance to react, cutting through the air just a centimeter away from Hinata’s nose. “…And having enough perception and control to attack with the intent of hurting, yet not doing it. Obviously, the latter requires more skill.”  
   
Hinata puffed up his cheeks and then exhaled loudly, narrowing his eyes. He did a quick right leg double kick to Kageyama’s knee and hip, Kageyama moved away just slightly for the first and blocked the second with his forearm.  
   
“You’re quick but you’re not _thinking_.”  
   
He jabbed with his left and then crossed with his right, Hinata blocking both with palms, but then Kageyama quickly swept his right foot across Hinata’s back foot to knock him off his feet. Hinata sensed him and jumped up with a spinning kick aimed at Kageyama’s head. Kageyama ducked around the kick, grabbed him by the shin, and slammed him to the floor. He crouched over him, jabbing a rigid hand right in front of Hinata’s neck to signal the ‘finishing blow’.  
   
“You don't suck but you’re not trying to read my body. You need to be able to get inside my head like I’m getting inside yours.”  
   
“Owww.” Hinata coughed, lips curing up into a smirk. “Trying to read you is like trying to read a cement wall.”  
   
“Good. It’s not supposed to be easy.” Kageyama moved his hand away and got up, taking a few steps back to give Hinata space.  
   
Hinata pressed his hands to the floor and did a kick-up to get back on his feet, resuming his fighting stance. He placed his feet parallel, lowered his center of gravity, and kept one hand in front of his face for protection while having the other straight behind him. He had unconsciously been pulled into Kageyama’s pace, body trying to match his style. But not this time. He’d set the pace and fight with what he knew best. He slightly rocked before aiming at Kageyama’s face with and open crescent kick. Kageyama ducked and came in with a right hook, Hinata blocked, and then a left hook, which Hinata leaned back to avoid it hitting his face. Hinata cartwheeled backward on one hand, bringing his straight legs up to kick Kageyama under the chin. Kageyama was barely able to miss the first, and the second nicked him slightly, causing him to scowl.  
   
Kageyama charged at Hinata with a quick succession of a front kick, side kick, and spinning back kick. Hinata was able to hop back for the front kick and block his stomach from the side kick. He crouched onto a one-handed handstand to avoid Kageyama’s back kick, kicking him in the chest with both legs. Kageyama was pushed backwards but Hinata didn't let him regain his breathe or balance. He quickly cartwheeled to Kageyama’s side, grabbing him across the chest between with his legs, and slamming him down to the floor with his dominant leg. Kageyama groaned loudly, the wind having been knocked out of him, but before he tried to get up Hinata straddled him, trapped Kageyama’s arms against his own chest, and held the side of his flattened hand to his neck.  
   
“How’s that for ‘ _reading you’_?” Hinata huffed, a wild and cocky smile on his face.  
   
“Decent,” Kageyama wheezed. “So your fighting skills are better than your alchemy. At least you’re not completely hopeless.”  
   
Hinata raised an eyebrow, legs squeezing tighter around Kageyama’s hips. He could feel Kageyama’s abs contract, their defined firmness pressing against Hinata’s thighs. “You sure you want to say that while I’m holding you down like this? I could light you up in a millisecond.”  
   
“You’d be an icicle before you could.”  
   
Hinata suddenly felt cold and looked down at his chest, it was frosting over. “Jerk, we said bare handed!” He let Kageyama’s hands go and hopped off of him.  
   
Kageyama dusted himself off and shrugged. “You threatened me first. I know I can’t beat you at a close distance like that; you’d burn the lower part of my body before I even have a chance to blink. I had to act first.”  
   
“True.” Hinata nodded and stretched his neck. “Ready to go again?”  
   
Kageyama readied his hands in front of him. “Always.”  
   
They sparred by themselves for another hour but then were joined by Nishinoya and Tanaka. They turned on a twenty by twenty containment field and took the chance to practice their teamwork using alchemy. It had been a few weeks since Kageyama and Hinata started to fight side by side against the other teams, and though they had improved immensely, they had a long way to go. Their lacking compatibility and communication was especially obvious when paired against Nishinoya’s and Tanaka’s near perfect connection. Never needing to affirm anything with shouting, never bumping into one another or getting in each other’s way—this is what a true team looked like. And the others were the same, or even better in the case of Tsukishima and Yamaguchi, who shared such a deep bond it was practically telepathy. It was creepy, a bit terrifying, but undeniably extraordinary.  
   
Hinata looked forward to the day that he and Kageyama would be able to connect like that.  
   
But for now he was slipping on Kageyama’s ice and Kageyama was getting his hair nearly scorched off by Hinata’s fire. They had _a lot_ to work on.  
   
“Push a bit harder.” Hinata mumbled to Kageyama, who was pressing on his back as he stretched forward while in a split. It had become routine for them to help each other in their cool down stretches.  
   
Kageyama did as he was told, eyes traveling across Hinata’s body. They lingered on his cybernetic legs and took in their intricacy. “I still don’t understand how you’re so flexible.”  
   
“Hmm,” Hinata hummed as he felt a better stretch in his legs and back. He pushed against Kageyama’s hands and sat up. “I had to be for the style of fighting my coach was teaching me. And I need to stretch every morning or my cybernetic legs, as well as the rest of my body, feel stiff.”  
   
“You should learn from Hinata,” commented Nishinoya from a few feet away. Tanaka and him were crouched in a lunge. “You’re a bit too stiff in body _and_ personality.”  
   
Hinata chuckled and stood up. “We’ll work on that. You can join me in my morning stretches if you want.”  
   
“I’m flexible enough.” Kageyama walked over to the exit and put on his jacket. “And no, I like sleeping until the last minute.”  
   
“Yeah…a bit _too_ last minute.” Hinata sighed. “You’re heading to the showers?”  
   
Kageyama walked out of the training room without saying a word.  
   
“Hey! Kageyama, wait for me.” Hinata grabbed his vest and jogged out of the room. 

* * *

Akaashi lived his life in search of pockets of peace—the quaint café in a hidden corner, early mornings on a bench by the riverside, and the quiet embrace of the library were some of his favorites places for doing exactly that. But for the last few weeks one of his favorite places, the local library near his base in central Nagoya, was being terrorized by a man who had a stubborn interest in him and an inability to control the volume of his voice.  
   
“Mr. Nightshade. Akaashi, the Nightshade Alchemist,” he said in a raspy voice that sounded like it should have been a whisper but was just as loud as talking normally.  
   
Akaashi brought the hardcover mystery book he was reading closer to his face. Everyone in a five-foot radius was staring daggers at them and Akaashi wanted to dissipate into thin air. _Farewell his quiet and lovely reading time_ —his favorite escape from the boisterous and messy Nagoya base.  
   
“Shh. Do you not know how to whisper?” Akaashi murmured for what seemed to be the hundredth time. The guy would probably leave him alone if Akaashi used alchemy to swing him around with his vines and poke a few harmless holes into him with some thorns…but there was something about this guy that made Akaashi unable to reject him in the usual manner he used with every guy that approach him for his ‘beautiful appearance’.  
   
“I _am_ whispering,” he rasped again, just as loudly. He leaned closer and stretched his neck to look over Akaashi’s book, eyes wide.  
   
Akaashi sighed and closed his book. “What do I need to do so you will stop pestering me?” He tried to look somewhere that didn’t make him want to lick his lips, but all he could focus on was this guy’s wide shoulders and chiseled body. If he ignored the ridiculous salt and pepper spiked up hair, even his face and that ‘kicked-puppy’ expression he’d sometimes use were to Akaashi’s taste. _Not that he’d let him know that_.  
   
“Go on a date with me. Just one date and I’m sure I can sweep you off your feet,” he insisted with a confidant grin.  
   
“…Okay,” Akaashi relented, slotting his book under his arm and getting up from the table. He walked out of the library and Bokuto followed closely behind, confusion blatant in his expression.

“Where are you going?”  
  
“On a date with you. Isn’t that what you wanted?” Akaashi rounded a corner a few blocks down from the library and entered a hidden coffee shop with a light blue overhang. “This is my favorite place to get coffee. I thought it would be a good place for a date.”  
  
They sat by a corner in a round blue table with laced tablecloth and two round chairs. Akaashi enjoyed this cafe and the library because of their stubborn drive to stay unchanged, regardless of how advanced everything around them was getting—it’s as if the past had been frozen and encased, bringing a sense of deep nostalgia. Truthfully, buying or renting a book on his wristcom would be lighter, and getting coffee from those taste bud analyzer machines would be faster and more accurate, but Akaashi enjoyed living in a slower pace when he had the chance.  
  
“What would you like?” asked the man, buff arms leaning on the table as he hovered over Akaashi. He wore a tight black muscle tee, black fingerless gloves, and black pants.  
  
Akaashi’s eyes traveled up his beautiful arms and to those striking, gold eyes. He’d never seen such a gorgeous color. “A double espresso, please.”  
  
He gave a silly, wide smile and practically danced to the register to order. He returned after a few minutes with Akaashi’s small cup of espresso and his large vanilla frappe. He set down Akaashi’s drink in front of him, taking extra care to do it very slowly as to not spill, and sat down across the table.  
  
He bit on the straw of his frappe, eyes meeting Akaashi’s gaze. “Am I sweeping you off your feet already?”  
  
“Barely,” Akashi replied, the man’s unending confidence bringing a tiny grin to his face. “You haven’t even told me your name.”  
  
“Oh, yeah!” He slammed his hands on the table and pointed to himself. “I’m Bokuto!”  
  
Akaashi nodded and took a sip of his espresso. “ _Bokuto_ , it is? I’m Brigadier General Akaashi, The Nightshade Alchemist. But you already knew that.”  
  
“Yup. I know a lot about you.”  
  
To a regular person, that statement would be very creepy. And sure, there was no denying that Bokuto had been acting somewhat like a stalker in the past few weeks. But being the head of the Nagoya Alchemist Base made Akaashi used to ‘being known’ and ‘being sought after’. He knew how to take care of himself, and wore his uniform even while on break because his reputation of taking care of the people who bothered him extensively preceded him, making it easier to be left alone. But for some reason this strange man wasn’t even a bit put off by that reputation. Akaashi found him amusing, to say the least.  
  
“Then you know what I do to guys who bug me too much?”  
  
Bokuto took a long slurp of his frappe and set it down in front of him with an excited nod. “You thrash them around with your plant alchemy, right? I even saw you do it once.”  
  
“And yet you weren’t worried that would happen to you?” Akaashi took another sip of his espresso, his eyes steady on Bokuto’s reaction. The question caused him to pause, face growing pensive and lips pursing.  
  
“Hmm, I hadn’t really thought about that.” Bokuto shrugged. “I just felt like it’d be different with me.”  
  
Akaashi laughed through his nose. _Well, the man wasn’t wrong._  
  
“You laughed!” exclaimed Bokuto, eyes glimmering. “It’s the first time I’ve heard it. I must be doing something right.”  
  
“You are.” Akaashi finished his espresso and set it aside. He brought his hands to the edge of the table and unconsciously fiddled with his fingers. “Why exactly are you chasing after me?”  
  
“Because I find you beautiful,” Bokuto answered almost immediately.  
  
“But I’m a man. You know that, right?” There were _plenty_ of times Akaashi had to remind his suitors of that. Maybe Bokuto in his naivety hadn’t yet realized that particular detail.  
  
“So? That doesn’t change the fact that I like you.”  
  
The unusual seriousness in his deep voice and those eyes that unrelentingly burrowed into the skin, made Akaashi’s cheeks heat up. It was rare to find someone more blunt than himself. Bokuto seemed to be blunt and honest to a fault…and Akaashi couldn’t help but find it endearing.  
  
“Thank you, for that and for the coffee.” He stood up and tucked his book under his arm again. “I need to head back to the base.”  
  
Bokuto got up with a start, his ‘kicked-puppy’ expression activating. “You’re leaving? Can I meet you here again tomorrow?”  
  
“As long as you wait for me here and don’t bother me in the library, then yes.”  
  
“Awesome! I’ll see you tomorrow.” Bokuto waved goodbye as Akaashi walked away. Akaashi gave him a short nod and left the café, a bit of a hop to his step.

* * *

Hinata slumped onto the couch and pressed his back against Kageyama’s side as Kageyama sat upright, eyes glued to the volleyball game on T.V. Hinata had always been a person who enjoyed being touchy with his family and friends, but Kageyama was someone who wasn’t used to that. In the first few weeks Hinata’s inability to respect personal space made Kageyama snap more than a few times but slowly, while grumbling, he got used to Hinata cozying up to him.  
   
He leaned his head back on Kageyama’s shoulder with a sigh, “I’m bored…”  
   
“What do you want me to do about that?”  
   
“Nothing.” Hinata glanced at the T.V. “Is the game interesting?”  
   
“Yeah, kind of. They’re tied in skill so the match is pretty heated.”  
   
“Hmm.”  
   
After the fire, Hinata didn’t get much of a chance to play sports like the rest of the kids because he physically couldn’t. And once he had finally gotten used to his cybernetic legs, he was so focused on practicing his alchemy that the urge never crossed his mind. Maybe he would have more of an interest in sports if had grown up like the regular kids.  
   
His earcom beeped and Hinata pressed his index finger to it, activating the holographic screen. An ‘accept or reject’ to a video call with Nishinoya popped up. He tapped accept.  
   
“Hiya, Shouyou. Where are you right now?”  
   
“In my room, with Kageyama.” He dragged the screen so Nishinoya could see Kageyama sitting behind him. “What’s up?”  
   
“We need both of you to meet us in the lobby,” Nishinoya said urgently. “Come with your uniforms on, but with a holo of regular clothing over it. You’ve got ten minutes!” And he hung up without explaining anything else.  
   
“Huh?” Hinata said mostly to himself. He jumped off the couch and went to his closet to put on his pants and vest. “You heard what Noya-senpai said right?”  
   
“Yeah.” Kageyama also slid on his pants and his jacket, face showing a bit of excitement. “Maybe it’s a special mission?”  
   
“Oh! Maybe it is!” Hinata clicked through the holographic screen that was still displaying in front of him and searched his inventory of outfits. “What to wear…”  
   
Kageyama pressed his wristcom and decided on an outfit from his inventory without much thought. In just a few seconds his uniform changed into a burgundy bomber jacket, black shirt, dark grey denim pants, and black sneakers. Hinata got a bit distracted from his own decision making by how good Kageyama looked in casual clothing. Hinata knew Kageyama was handsome, you’d had to be blind to not see that, but he had a different air to him when he was out of his uniform.  
   
“You look really good,” Hinata unconsciously let slip from his lips.  
   
Kageyama met Hinata’s gaze and shoved his hands in his bomber jacket pockets, ducking his head a bit. “…Thanks. Hurry up and pick what you’re wearing, slowpoke.”  
   
“Oh.” Hinata returned his attention to his inventory again and settled on a black zip up hoodie, light pink graphic muscle t-shirt, light blue denim, and white sneakers. He stood in front of the mirror to make sure he approved of the outfit and caught Kageyama looking at him through the reflection. “Do I look weird?”  
   
Kageyama looked away with a shrug. “No, not really. Just different. You look even younger.”  
   
“Yeah, people often say I look like a little kid.” He pressed his index finger to his earcom to close the holographic screen and walked to the door. “Let’s go before Noya-senpai gets mad.”  
   
Once they reached the lobby they spotted Nishinoya with Tanaka, Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Asahi, and Ennoshita from the general military. They were all in casual clothing and talking amongst themselves. Nishinoya waved at them as they approached and made his way out of the huddle to meet them.  
   
“Just in time! You guys sure know how to clean up,” he complimented as he walked around the two of them.  
   
“What’s all this for?” asked Kageyama.  
   
Hinata nodded and added, “Is it like a secret mission or something?”  
   
“No it isn’t.” Nishinoya chuckled and put a hand on each of their backs to push them forward. “I’ve signed all of us out for a night of fun and recklessness!  
   
“Really?! The sounds great.” Hinata beamed, “You have great timing! I was really bored.”  
   
Kageyama sighed. “I wasn’t. I was in the middle of watching a game.”  
   
“Hush. Trust me, you’ll have much more fun with us. And this counts as a team bonding exercise!” Nishinoya pointed toward the exit and shouted, “To the station we go!” He worked his way back to the front of the group where Tanaka was walking and left Hinata and Kageyama to trail behind in the back.  
   
Hinata bent forward a bit to try to look at Kageyama’s face and whispered, “Do you want to go back? I’m sure if you really don't want to come with us, Noya-senpai wouldn’t stop you.”  
   
Kageyama shook his head, briefly meeting Hinata’s stare. “No, it’s fine. It’ll be a good experience, I think. I’ve never gone out at night with friends…”  
   
“Never?” Hinata’s eyes grew wide in surprise.  
   
Kageyama frowned, eyes cutting away to look anywhere else than Hinata’s painfully honest face. “ _I told you_ , there are a lot of things I’ve never done. It’s not like I’ve felt sad about it so stop looking so sorry for me.”  
   
“It _is_ sad! I can’t help it… ” Hinata’s lips curved into a big, cheesy smile and he grabbed Kageyama’s hand. “But I promised you I’d catch you up on stuff, right? Just leave it up to me.” Hinata pulled him along as he walked closer to Tsukishima and Yamaguchi to strike up a conversation. Hinata expected Kageyama to slap his hand away or say a rude remark, but instead Kageyama lightly squeezed Hinata’s hand and followed along silently. Hinata was dying to take a peek at what expression he was wear, but willed himself to resist in fear of Kageyama getting embarrassed and pulling his hand away.  
   
Though his hand was cold at first, it slowly warmed in Hinata’s grip. It felt nice.  
   
“So you guys are close enough to hold hands now?” commented Tsukishima.  
   
And the magic ended. Kageyama pulled his hand away and shoved it in his jacket. “Hinata was just forcing me to come along,” he grumbled.  
   
“Yeah…I was just making sure he stayed by my side,” Hinata muttered while looking down at his hand. He felt a bit sad that Kageyama had pulled his hand away.  
   
“Tsukki was just teasing. It’s good if you guys get close enough to do that, you know.” Yamaguchi showed them his and Tsukishima’s linked hands. “We do it all the time. So do Nishinoya and Tanaka.”  
   
Hinata nodded and glanced up at Kageyama. His eyebrows were furrowed and though he was walking right next to Hinata, there now was a wall there. The moment was gone.  
   
Nishinoya lead the group to Ota City, a ward within the Tokyo Metropolis, and the closest place to the base with a considerable nightlife. They roamed the streets for a while to enjoy the pleasant ‘almost summer’ nighttime breeze but soon dipped into the neon-beaming Club Fever. The inside was just as neon colored as the outside, though the overhead lights were completely off, neon tubing, signs, and tiled dance floor made the club just bright enough to navigate. The DJ was playing loud dance pop and electronic music to the large crowd of people gathered on the dance floor.  
   
They took a big booth in the back corner of the sitting area and a server bot rolled up to them to take their orders. Asahi ordered a ramune highball, and Tanaka, having just turned twenty in march, ordered himself what he called ‘a true man’s drink’, a whiskey on the rock. They pressed their hands onto the bot’s scanner so that it could confirm they were of legal age, and let the others order their ‘baby drinks’. The bot returned in a few minutes with all their orders, opening a hatch in its body where it stored them and perfectly distributing each drink to its rightful owner. Noya chugged his drink, and made Asahi down his as well so that he could pull him onto the dance floor. Soon after Tanaka sputtered his way through asking Ennoshita to accompany him to the bar with the excuse of wanting to order his drink directly from the bartender. Ennoshita laughed quietly and nodded, eyes soft as he followed a babbling Tanaka to the bar. And with that, only Tsukishima, Yamaguchi, Hinata, and Kageyama were left in the booth.  
   
“You guys aren’t going to go dance?” asked Hinata around his tall slushy straw.  
   
Yamaguchi chuckled and shook his head, an arm wrapping around Tsukishima’s. “Tsukki doesn’t really like to dance. Maybe I’ll be able to convince him later.”  
   
“Good luck with that,” muttered Tsukki and he took a sip of his seltzer water.  
   
“Oh, come on!” Yamaguchi urged, and turned to whisper something in Tsukishima’s ear. Tsukishima whispered something back, and off they went into a world of their own while ignoring the rest of the table.  
   
Hinata sighed and shifted his body so he was facing Kageyama who was sitting next to him drinking his melon soda in complete silence. He decided to keep quiet and stare at him, studying his handsome profile while slowly working through his cherry slushy. At least this was more amusing than watching Yamaguchi and Tsukishima flirt with each other.  
   
“What?” snapped Kageyama, turning slightly to face Hinata. “Why’re you staring at me?”  
   
“Just cause.”  
   
“…If you want some of my melon soda, I’m not giving you any.” Kageyama hurriedly downed the rest of his soda. “Now you can’t steal it.”  
   
Hinata laughed and put down his empty glass on the table. “That’s not it, stupid.”  
   
“Then what is it?” Kageyama wiped his lips with the back of his hand. “Also don’t call me stupid, dumbass.”  
   
“Wanna go dance?”  
   
“Hah? Wait, you and me?”  
   
Hinata smirked. “Who else. It’s not like we’re doing much here. Unless all you want to do tonight is continue ordering drinks while watching those two be all over each other.”  
   
“I mean, no, I don’t really want to be stuck in this booth.” Kageyama looked out to the dance floor and then back at Hinata. “But I also don't want to make a fool of myself.”  
   
“No one will be watching. There are a ton of people and they’re too busy dancing themselves.” Hinata offered his hand, his lips rounding into a soft smile. “One more experience for you to catch up on.”  
   
“Fine.” Kageyama sighed and took Hinata’s hand.  
   
They walked to a less visible and more desolate corner of the dance floor. Hinata let go of Kageyama’s hand and pointed at himself so Kageyama could have something to follow. He bopped his head to the music, stepped side to side, and bounced his shoulders. Kageyama tried to do the same but it came out stiff, and his eyebrows only furrowed further in his embarrassment.  
   
“Don’t think about anything but the music.” Hinata took both his hands and moved them around in the air randomly. “There is no one way to dance it. Just let your body be free.”  
   
“I feel so dumb,” mumbled Kageyama.  
   
Hinata twirled Kageyama, musical laughter leaving his chest as he watched Kageyama duck under his arm. “Good. That’s how you know you’re doing it right.”  
   
Though there was rarely a moment Kageyama wasn’t grumbling or complaining about something, they continued to dance. Kageyama’s movements grew lighter and looser, to the point that he was moving in accordance to what his body wanted to do. He was more on the reserved side, keeping most of his movements in his arms and a few steps with his feet. Hinata on the other hand loved to flail around, pumping his hand in the air while jumping up and down, and hopping side to side. Occasionally he’d hold onto Kageyama’s hands and get him to jump with him. Kageyama wouldn’t do it for long but he’d enjoy the first few jumps, a tiny chuckle escaping his lips, and his hands hot in Hinata’s grip.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I kNOW GUYS. It's been more than a year since my last update. T_T *bows down* I deeply apologize. It just...this fic, more than any other I've written, is a HUGE struggle to write for many reasons. BUT good news! I'm done with all my other multi-chap fics, so this year I'll be focusing on this one! I'm aiming to have one new chapter a month (I know, I know that's still a lot of waiting but I'm trying to be realistic).
> 
> I hope you guys enjoyed this update! Please leave me lots of love so I can keep fighting onward! <3
> 
> If you like my writing, I have other Haikyuu!! fics [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kvhottie/pseuds/kvhottie/works?fandom_id=758208).
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](http://www.kvhottiescribe.com)! Lets be friends.


	5. Ready or Not

Daichi let out a long, heavy sigh as he stared at the projected screens floating above his desk. He let himself sink further into his cushioned chair and glanced over at Sugawara, who was standing on the opposite side of his desk. They shared a quiet gaze, as they often do, and it was enough to spur Sugawara to walk behind Daichi’s chair and place his warm, steady hands on his shoulders.  
   
“Is the Sendai base still not getting back?” he murmured, giving the muscles beneath his hands a deep squeeze. Daichi always held his stress in his shoulders and back, and Sugawara could easily feel the knots that had formed this past week.  
   
“They haven’t responded to even one of my messages. Their communication systems seem to be down. And that’s not even the worst of it.”  
   
Daichi pressed play on the holo-message he got from Brigadier General Yaku of the Kyoto base. It showed footage of a man taking out the general military guards at the ground entrance of the pod tunnel used to reach the top of the mountain where the Kyoto base was located. The man had short-cropped blonde hair and his arms were covered with some sort of hard grey-blue plating up to his elbows. He was quick and ruthless, killing each guard in a matter of seconds. The last guard managed to trigger an emergency break-off before he was clawed to death and the tunnel disconnected from the mountain entrance, quickly retracting back to the ground. The man looked up at the camera as the plating spread to cover his whole body and face, and then ran into the thick forest surrounding the base of the mountain.  
   
The message cut to Yaku’s face, his eyebrows were furrowed but he gave a smug smile. “As you can see, we are dealing with someone or something we’ve never seen before. I assume he’ll be knocking on our door once he makes it through the forest. We’ll hold him back as long as we can, but it’d be great if HQ sent reinforcements.” And with a quick salute, he ended the video.  
   
“He sent this ten minutes ago,” Daichi stated as he shifted to the adjacent screen and pressed the orange alert button. “Let’s gather our alchemists and fill them in. We will need to send them to Kyoto and Sendai.”  
   
“Will you need some of my men?” Sugawara briefly caressed Daichi’s neck, running his fingers across the hairline in the back of his head before pulling his hands away.  
   
Daichi reached back for one of Sugawara’s hands and placed a quick kiss on his knuckles. He then stood up and straightened his uniform to prepare to greet the team. “A squad for Sendai and a few men for Kyoto should do.”  
   
“Yes, sir.” Sugawara replied and stepped a few feet away to sit on the corner of the desk as they waited.  
   
The guys arrived at the same time, having just been eating breakfast together, and lined up in the usual order—with the new addition of Hinata next to Kageyama in the far right. Daichi explained that the Sendai branch’s communications were down for some unknown reason and showed the clip of what the Kyoto branch was dealing with. He cleared his throat, folding his arms across his chest, and faced his team.  
   
“And so, we will be sending Lieutenant Nishinoya, Major Kageyama, and Major Hinata to the Kyoto branch with a few men general military. Lieutenant Tanaka will go with a squad to investigate Sendai. Finally, Major Tsukishima and Major Yamaguchi will stay here to help me gather all the information we can and protect the base in case someone decides to attack.  
   
Nishinoya immediately furrowed his eyebrows and looked over at Tanaka, who gave him a tiny shrug. He then returned his attention to Daichi while chewing on his bottom lip.  
   
“Nishinoya,” Daichi began, understanding his dissatisfaction. “I know you and Tanaka have been on every mission together since you became State Alchemists, but we can’t just send Kageyama and Hinata alone to Kyoto. They need your guidance.”  
   
Nishinoya relented, giving a hard nod. “Yes, Major General.”  
   
“Major Tsukishima and Major Yamaguchi, stay put. Those heading out, meet in lobby in ten minutes. Dismissed.”  
   
The team saluted and quickly scattered. Hinata and Kageyama took off in an excited sprint to their room while Nishinoya and Tanaka closed the office doors behind them, pacing sullenly. It wasn’t until they were by the elevator that Nishinoya broke the silence.  
   
“I know the general is right but…” Nishinoya kicked his foot against the floor.  
   
Tanaka chuckled quietly and grabbed him by the wrist. “Yeah, it sucks that we have to do this mission apart but those two hotheads need you to be 100% focused on them.”  
   
“What about this hothead?” Nishinoya asked with a smirk, eyes meeting Tanaka’s gaze.  
   
“ _This_ hothead will be just fine by himself.” Tanaka wrapped his arms around Nishinoya’s neck and pulled him in for a tight hug. “Be careful, okay?”  
   
Nishinoya reciprocated with a painful squeeze to Tanaka’s waist and nodded against his chest. “You too. You still haven’t confessed your feelings to Chikara.”  
   
“Hush,” Tanaka huffed, cheeks flushing lightly, and placed a rough kiss on Nishinoya’s forehead. “Don’t bring him up. My thoughts will get distracted.”  
   
Nishinoya laughed and he shimmied out of Tanaka’s grip. “Okay, Ryuu, enough with the sap. We haven’t even pressed the damn elevator button.” Nishinoya pounded the upward arrow and the elevator pinged open a few seconds later.  
   
They got on and Tanaka pressed the buttons for the lobby and the 4 th floor, “You’re going to visit Asahi-san before you leave, right?”  
   
Nishinoya grinned. “Yeah, he gets mad if I leave on a mission without saying bye first.”  
   
“Make sure you don't do anything other than just say bye,” Tanaka teased as he got off the elevator. “You’ve only got like five minutes.”  
   
“That’s plenty of time,” Nishinoya yelled back, a mischievous glint in his eyes.  
   
By the time the ten minutes were up, all of those heading out on the missions had gathered in the lobby. Nishinoya actually managed to get there right on time, although judging from the way he adjusted his uniform as he approached, it was obvious that he did more than just say goodbye. Tanaka shook his head in amusement and shot Nishinoya as knowing look, to which Nishinoya just smiled smugly.  
   
“Okay, everyone is now here,” Sugawara began. “These soldiers behind me are some of the best in our general military. The five to my right will be assisting Lieutenant Tanka, and the two to my left will be assisting Lieutenant Nishinoya.”  
   
The soldiers walked over to each of their corresponding commanding officer, saluted, and turned to listen to the rest of Sugawara’s instructions.  
   
“The Lieutenants should now have the briefing files in their wristcoms. On the way to the site please fill in your team and come up with a plan. Most importantly, stay safe. Good luck.”  
   
“Yes, sir,” they all responded with a salute and headed toward the huge metal doors that were being opened for them. Tanaka briefly stepped away from his team to roughly tousle Hinata and Kageyama’s hair and wish them good luck on their first mission. He then waved goodbye at Nishinoya, lips curled up in wide smile as he returned to his team. Once inside Tokyo Bases’ high security train station, each team boarded a private maglev train that ran on state alchemist-owned, hidden tracks. It connected every city in which a State Alchemist base was located for quick emergencies dispatches like this one.  
   
Kageyama and Hinata sat across from each other in one of the booths and Nishinoya took a seat beside Hinata. The man and woman from the general military, who introduced themselves as Maeda and Okada, sat in a two-seater across the isle from them. Nishinoya kept to himself for the first twenty minutes, reading the mission file on the projected screen of his wristcom. He then shut it off, stood up, and glanced from his fellow state alchemists to those of the general military as his paced up and down the isle.  
   
“These files didn’t help jack,” he explained, arms folding across his chest. “For the general military who might not know: the Kyoto base is dealing with a person or thing who killed their guards in less than a minute and can cover themselves with some sort of grey-blue plating. We know nothing about the enemy and can’t really come up with a plan until we join up with them. But I _will_ say that the overall plan is for each of us to come back in one piece. You hear?”  
   
“Yes, sir,” they replied in unison.  
   
“Good. We’ll arrive at the Kyoto base in less than two hours. Do what you need to until then.”  
   
Nishinoya took the seat beside Hinata again, slumping down with a sigh and propping his feet on the empty spot across from him. He leaned his head back on the seat and glanced at Kageyama and Hinata who were staring at him.  
   
“Are you mad you had to come with us instead of going with Tanaka-san?” Kageyama asked bluntly.  
   
“I was never mad, just a little bummed out. And it’s not like I blame you guys. It takes a while to get completely synced to your partner.”  
   
“The general doesn’t trust us yet.” Hinata pouted, fingers playing with the bottom hem of his uniform jacket. “But we have improved a lot—especially these past few weeks! What else do we do to finally reach the level of synchronization you and Tanaka-senpai, or Tsukishima and Yamaguchi have?”  
   
“Hmm…you’ve been training together everyday so I doubt it’s combat related at this point. Maybe it’s a gap in emotions?”  
   
Hinata cocked his head to the side. “If it’s determination, we both have plenty of it!”  
   
Nishinoya laughed and shook his head, sitting up in his seat. “It’s not that. Ryuu and I have been together since babies. So have Tsukishima and Yamaguchi. For each of us, there isn’t another person on this earth who knows our partner better. We’ve had time to learn every little detail about each other, making it almost second nature to know what the other may be thinking—in and outside of battle. You guys simply need to make up that time.”  
   
“You mean get to know each other better?” Kageyama asked, voice dripping with obvious disbelief.  
   
“Deeper than that. Not just favorite foods or favorite colors, things like biggest fears and motivations. If you guys don’t know each other at the core, you’ll never be able to get inside each other’s heads.” Nishinoya leaned forward and pointed at the crest on the left bicep of Kageyama’s uniform. “For example, Shouyou. Do you know what that is? And how Kageyama feels about it.”  
   
“Uh, it’s his family crest, right?” Hinata rubbed the back of his neck as he squinted at it. “He told me his family is pretty strict so maybe he doesn’t feel that good about it?”  
   
“That’s a good start but not good enough. You need to know it with confidence. You’ll need to _want_ to know it.”  
   
“I mean even if I wanted to, I doubt Kageyama would tell me!” Hinata protested.  
   
“I’d tell you…” Kageyama muttered. “In the beginning I didn’t want to but now, if you aren’t annoying when asking, I’ll tell you.”  
   
“Good. Being willing to open up is also necessary.” Nishinoya said with satisfied grin and got up, walking to the booth behind them. “Have at it. I’m going to nap in this booth until we arrive.”  
   
They nodded and Hinata hopped over to where Kageyama was sitting. He turned his body to him and crossed his legs between them, bouncing them up and down impatiently.  
   
“So?” Hinata pressed.  
   
Kageyama sat up with a sigh and shimmied out of his uniform jacket, placing it between Hinata and himself with the left sleeve showing. Near the shoulder of the sleeve sat Kageyama’s family crest in a shape of a gold shield with an embossed purple flower and some other symbols. Kageyama tapped on the flower.  
   
“Did you ever wonder why I have the word ‘Aconite’ in my alchemist name?”  
   
“Not really” Hinata shrugged. “I didn’t know what it meant so I let it be.”  
   
“Figures,” Kageyama shook his head, slightly amused. “Aconite is known as many things, but you’ll probably recognize the name _Wolfsbane_.”  
   
Hinata’s eyes lit up and he clapped his hands. “Oh yeah! It’s a poisonous purple flower!”  
   
“That’s my family’s symbol. My family was formed when very high ranking military officials married into the royal family hundreds of years ago, so that makes us a royal military family.”  
   
“Sounds…suffocating,” Hinata murmured sympathetically.  
   
“It is.”  
   
Hinata thoughtfully traced the flower around Kageyama’s finger. “So does every alchemist in your family have ‘Aconite’ in their name?”  
   
“Only the ones in the main bloodline. It was part of my father’s name when he was an alchemist.”  
   
“Wow, you’re a true legacy.” Hinata whistled. “He’s not an alchemist anymore?”  
   
“No, he retired. He’s a combat teacher at the academy now.”  
   
Hinata scrunched his face. “Oh god, you had to take classes from your dad?”  
   
“ _I know_. And he’d always beat on me the hardest.”  
   
Hinata chuckled and that brought a tiny smile to Kageyama’s lips. He usually hated talking about his family but it felt easy to do it with Hinata. _Everything felt easier with Hinata_.  
   
“So, are there many other active alchemists in your family?’  
   
Kageyama shook his head. “We’ve always been a small family, with each generation only having one or two kids. So the only other active alchemist is my older cousin Akaashi.”  
   
“Oh, were you guys ever at the academy together?”  
   
“No…he’s a genius so he finished at a super accelerated pace. He’s only a year older than me but he’s already the Brigadier General for the Nagoya branch. They call him The Nightshade Alchemist because he uses poisonous nightshade flowers when he really wants to mess up his enemies.”  
   
“Damn, that’s freaking cool. Wait…” Hinata narrowed his eyes. “Do _you_ use poisonous flowers or whatever? Your family seems really into that stuff.”  
   
“No I don't, dumbass.”  
   
“Hey! It’s a reasonable question,” Hinata whined. He gently grabbed Kageyama’s hands and turned them over to reveal his palms. He watched Kageyama’s face as his fingers traced the small transmutation circles, making sure he wasn’t feeling uncomfortable. “Does your cousin also use nanotech?”  
   
“Since its invention, every alchemist in my family has.”  
   
“Because you guys love showing off that you’re filthy rich,” Hinata commented snidely.  
   
Kageyama pulled his hands away and slid his jacket back on, lips pressing into a thin line. “Yeah, basically. They really care about the family’s reputation and traditions.”  
   
“And you don't.”  
   
“I’m sick of them,” Kageyama spat.  
   
They let silence settle between them for a few breaths. Hinata mentally reviewed what he had just learned about Kageyama and even with just a simple conversation like this; there was a sense that they had become closer. Hinata peered up at Kageyama, only to find him already staring at him. He looked like he wanted to ask something.  
   
“Yeah?” Hinata whispered, hoping that’d encourage him.  
   
His gaze shifted to Hinata’s legs. “...Are the nightmares you have related to the fire you told us about?”  
   
Hinata’s cheeks burned red and he ducked his head. “You noticed?”  
   
“It’s hard not to. You sometimes cry in your sleep or wake up in the middle of the night gasping for air.”  
   
“Sorry,” Hinata mumbled and brought his legs to his chest, hugging them. “Yeah, I often get flashbacks in my dreams. It always the night my father died, over and over again.”  
   
“That sucks…” Kageyama furrowed his eyebrows. He was being sympathetic in his own way. “Do you know why?”  
   
Hinata shook his head, resting his chin on his knees. “Not really. My therapist said it’s a lasting symptom of my PTSD. That maybe with some more time and another try at treatments, they will go away.”  
   
"Oh." Kageyama pressed his hands together and circled his thumbs around each other. Hinata watched him briefly, finding it endearing that he was pushing himself to talk this much.  
   
"It's okay," Hinata assured him, bringing his legs down to the floor again and sitting upright. "For now I'm fine with how things are. I'm used to it."  
   
"Uh, so there isn't anything you can do to stop them? Like medicine?"  
   
"I used to take medicine in the past but they messed with my alchemy. I'd rather be off them." Hinata shrugged and looked down at his feet, tapping them together playfully. "Sleeping in the same bed with other people helps. Sometimes, if I hadn't gotten any sleep for a few days, my sister would sleep in my bed and I'd sleep like a baby."  
   
"I could do that," Kageyama offered. He then realized what he was implying and raised his hands up, flustered. "I mean, when you are sleep deprived or really need it. I just need to sleep next to you right? It's no big deal. And it's to avoid your fighting getting even shittier from lack of sleep."  
   
Hinata stared at Kageyama, blinking a few times, and his lips slowly curled up into a sly smile. "Okay, then. When I need it, I'll take you up on that."  
   
"Don't abuse it, stupid. It's only when you need it," Kageyama grumbled.  
   
The overhead speakers chimed and announced their arrival at the State Alchemist's private Kyoto Station. Nishinoya rose up from his nap with a yawn and stretched his arms over his head as he led his team to the subway platform. Considering the situation at the base, Nishinoya expected to only find a few general military guards, but out of the shadows stepped out a tall, silver haired man in a light blue State Alchemist uniform.  
   
“Major Lev, The Molten Alchemist,” he said with a rigid salute. “I’m here to guide you to our base.”  
   
“That’s very considerate of Brigadier General Yaku. How’s the situation?”  
   
"Not good," Lev stated as he turned and started walking to the exit. They all did their best to keep up with his long, hurried strides. "The strange man broke through our gates and has injured or killed dozens of our general military. The base's lockdown mode has been activated and that will make it somewhat difficult for him to get inside. But Yaku-san, I mean, Brigadier General Yaku wanted to avoid the situation from getting to that point so he is currently trying to fight him off."  
   
"Alone?" Nishinoya asked.  
   
"No, with the other alchemists in the base. But we should hurry. No matter what we hit the guy with he wasn't affected. The plating he's covered with is practically indestructible."  
   
They made it to the ground entrance of the pod tunnel they had seen in the footage earlier. They carefully walked around the dead guards' bodies that pooled the floor with blood and their expressions grew grim. The threat was no longer something they saw in a projected screen—it was _real_ and thirsting to shred them apart like it had done to these guys. Their eyes had been closed, something Lev probably did when he went to pick them up, but the agony they suffered in their last moments was plastered on their faces. Hinata gripped the bottom hem of his jacket, took a deep breath, and mentally wished them safe passage to the other side.  
   
Lev punched a few buttons on the control board of the pod tunnel and scanned his hand to force the tunnel to reconnect to the base. It shot out in a matter of seconds and once the system announced the reconnection was complete, Lev opened the pod door. "It doesn't matter if we take this anymore since the enemy made it up there. We have no time to go through the forest."  
   
“Maeda, Okada. You two stay here and protect this tunnel. If anyone other strange person approaches, alert us immediately,” commanded Nishinoya.  
   
“Yes, sir,” they replied and took out their laser guns.  
   
The rest of them boarded the pod. Similar to the maglev train system, the tunnel used magnetic levitation to transport pods from the ground entrance, over the vast expanse of the forest, and up to the base entrance at the top of the mountain in less than a minute. When they left the pod they had to walk a few more feet until they saw the busted gates and bloodied bodies of the general military thrown around. Lev started running, his face finally breaking into worry, and the rest of them followed suit. When they passed the gates they spotted Yaku fighting against the enemy, blood trickling down the side of his face, and the rest of his alchemist team either groaning or unconscious on the ground.  
   
Yaku dashed at the plated man, an I.A.T baton in each hand, and hit him in the face and stomach. The batons landed heavy, seeming to be outputting some sort of energy, but didn't leave even one scratch on the man's armor. The enemy swung at him, clawing a shallow wound across his stomach, and Yaku jumped back, footing unbalanced.  
   
"Yaku-san!" Lev screamed as his I.A.T wristband activated in a grey light and he transmuted the stacked silver bracelets on his right wrist into a whip made out of softened metal. He lashed at the man's arms, tightening the whip around them while hardening the metal. As they approached Yaku’s side, Lev kept gathering metal from the ground and items nearby to reinforce the hold he had on their enemy.  
   
“ _Finally_ ,” Yaku muttered and stumbled forward until Nishinoya caught him. “Who would have thought I’d see you again in this kind of situation, Noya-kun. Are those two your newest baby alchemists?”  
   
Nishinoya chuckled and helped Yaku steady himself. “They are and very talented at that. Though a bit rough around the edges.”  
   
“Maybe that’s exactly what we need.” Yaku pressed his batons to the ground and leaned his weight on it. “Nothing is working on this guy. Not my kinetic energy, or anything my other alchemist threw at it.”  
   
“Kageyama, reinforce Lev’s metal with your ice. Cover him completely. He’ll probably break through it but at least it can give us time to think.”  
   
Kageyama did as he was told, activating the transmutation circles in his palms and freezing the plated man from the ground up as Lev spread the metal across his upper body. The enemy stood still, toothy grin directed at them with indifference.  
   
“It’s pointless. You can’t do anything against my ultimate shield,” he growled right before they covered his face.  
   
“Oh, he actually talks.” Nishinoya pointed out and activated his I.A.T fingerless gloves, a pink glow emanating from the transmutation circles imbedded in their palm. “Morisuke-san, has he said anything else?”  
   
Yaku stood on his feet again and ripped a piece of his undershirt to wrap around his head, keeping pressure on the wound there. He twirled his batons. “He said that his name is Greed and that he was going to take Kyoto Base for himself. That’s it.”  
   
“ _Great_ , that’s not useful at all. He looks human-bodied so even if he has been enhanced he’s got to have a weakness.”  
   
The metal and ice started cracking and Yaku groaned loudly. “When he gets out, Noya-kun, blast him and keep at it. Maybe it’ll disrupt the chemical bond of his shield. Spread out. Between each burst, every one else jump in to hit him with everything you can.”  
   
They ready themselves. When Greed disintegrated his encasing, Nishinoya clapped his hands together and a shockwave rippled through the ground and hit him. Greed was knocked back a few steps, but simply cracked his neck and continued launching forward. Nishinoya continued clapping, each one getting louder and harder.  
   
Greed’s approach slowed down to a march, him taking a few steps between the bursts and being pushed a few steps back with each clap. “I don’t know what you’re doing but I can’t feel a thing,” he mocked.  
   
Nishinoya gave him a wide smile and clapped, “You will NOW.”  
   
Kageyama punched his hand out and the ice lying on the ground near Greed shot up as ice shards, piercing him through the stomach. Greed groaned and looked down at his stomach in shock, but amidst red crackling light, the wound was slowly covered with skin again, his shield following a few seconds after.  
   
“He fucking regenerated,” Hinata screeched, feeling the need to point out what everyone else had just seen.  
   
Kageyama hit Hinata on the back of the head, “FOCUS, dumbass!”  
   
“I am!” Hinata waited for another one of Nishinoya’s claps and shot two fire blasts at Greed. They didn’t do much, serving more as a distraction to the metal spikes Lev drove into Greed’s shoulders. Hinata cursed under his breath. “I’ll need to get a hold of him in order to really cook him.”  
   
“What…are...you…doing to my shield!” Greed roared, breaking the spikes and pulling them out of himself.  
   
He leaped toward Nishinoya, getting close enough to swing at his head but Nishinoya ducked, clapped, and pressed his hands to Greed’s stomach. At the same time, Hinata dashed around Greed, hopped up to pinch his neck with his legs, and lit his upper body ablaze. Greed tried to grab at Hinata but Kageyama held back one of his arms still with ice while Lev held the other with this metal whip. Once the plating of Greed’s neck had melted off and there was only skin and muscle, Hinata tightened his legs and snapped his neck. He then jumped off Greed as he fell with a hard thud on the ground.  
   
“Whoa, good job firecracker!” complimented Lev.  
   
“Hush,” Yaku warned as he took a step closer to observe Greed’s body. There was red light coming from his neck and suddenly Greed shot up, clawing at Yaku’s stomach again, but Yaku blocked him with his batons and used the kinetic energy to force distance between them.  
   
Kageyama wiped at his forehead and huffed, “How many more times do we need to kill him?”  
   
“He can’t regenerate and shield himself at the same time,” Yaku yelled. “Use those few seconds to your advantage.”  
   
Nishinoya slammed Greed with another shockwave and Kageyama followed with ice spikes to his chest and stomach. With a twitch of Kageyama’s hand, the ice splintered and punctured Greed in at least a hundred other places, including his forehead.  
   
“That should have killed him,” commented Hinata.  
   
Lev groaned when Greed started snapping the ice spears and pulling them out of his body. “Does he look dead to you?”  
   
But instead of launching at them again, Greed dashed the opposite way. Kageyama and Hinata ran after him but past the gate he jumped off the edge of the mountain and into the deep green of the forest. They returned to where they had left the other alchemists, dissatisfaction spread across their faces. Yaku was now lying on the floor with his head in Lev’s lap; his injuries were finally taking their toll.  
   
“He ran away,” reported Kageyama.  
   
“Good,” said Nishinoya with a relieved sigh. “He may have infinite lives and energy, but we don’t. It wouldn’t be long before he took all of us out.”  
   
“But won’t he be back?” Lev asked as he typed out a message on the projected screen of his wristcom.  
   
“He shouldn’t be back for a while. He’ll at least wait until some of us aren’t around since he can’t deal with us in a big group like this.” Nishinoya bit his bottom lip as he paced. “Morisuke-san, you were damn good at education portion of the academy, right? What’s the toughest component that can be made from molecules of the human body?”  
   
Yaku closed his eyes and pressed two fingers to his temple. “Well, the human body is about 18% carbon and if you rearrange carbon molecules into perfect hexagonal bonds you can form graphene, which is _still_ the strongest material ever discovered. But no one has yet been able to recreate it in its most perfect form. Unless…”  
   
“Unless they did, hence Mr. Ultimate Shield we just fought.” Nishinoya crouched down next to Yaku. “How fast can your guys make containment shields and weapons that disrupt graphene’s bond?”  
   
“With the guys we still have left inside the base? A few hours at most.” Yaku sat up as the base entrance creaked open and out poured their medical team.  
   
“I sent out a request for medical aid, Yaku-san. We need to attend to you and anyone else who is still alive,” urged Lev.  
   
Yaku nodded and nudged Nishinoya with his elbow. “You guys should head back and report to headquarters. With this new plan, we should be all right.”  
   
“Understood.” Nishinoya stood up and dragged Kageyama and Hinata to his side. They saluted, which brought a grateful smile to Yaku’s lips, and they sauntered to the pod tunnel entrance. Despite the monster they had just risked they lives fighting, their minds were distracted with thoughts of warm food and comfortable beds.

* * *

“Is that everyone?” Oikawa asked without looking over at Iwaizumi who had just entered the room. He was busy scanning through the contents of every file stored in the hidden digital achieves of the Sendai base.  
   
Iwaizumi dropped a dead body dressed in a State Alchemist uniform on the floor. “Yes, everyone in this base has been killed. Did you finally find what you were looking for?”  
   
“Of course,” Oikawa hummed. “It’s taken forever to try to locate this specific archive, but these documents have proven all my suspicions right.”  
   
Iwaizumi stared at Oikawa, who was still wearing the appearance of Sendai base’s Major General, while sitting with his legs daintily crossed and hanging from the desk he was perched on. “Can you return to your usual appearance already? This one is ugly to look at.”  
   
Oikawa chuckled, red light discharging around him as his face and then body reverted to his youthful and beautiful self. He uncrossed his legs and held his left one up, pointing it at Iwaizumi “That was an indirect compliment, you know.”  
   
“Yeah, yeah.” Iwaizumi sighed and slid his hand up the outer side of Oikawa’s pointed leg.  
   
Oikawa pushed the projected screen away and wrapped his legs around Iwaizumi’s waist. “You’re all splattered in blood.”  
   
Iwaizumi dug his hands into Oikawa’s hips and pulled him closer. “As if that actually bothers you.” He breached the distance between their mouths but Oikawa intervened, pressing a finger to Iwaizumi’s lips. “Wha—“  
   
“Shh.” Oikawa commanded and closed his eyes. “Are you sure you killed everyone?” he whispered.  
   
“Yes.” Iwaizumi stilled his breath and after a few minutes of silence, let out a tired sigh. He backed away from Oikawa and drew his swords. “And here I thought I was finally done for the night.”  
   
“Since it seems to be special little rats, I’ll go with you.” Oikawa said with a devilish smile. He cheerfully hopped off the desk and followed Iwaizumi out the door.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> INB4: If there are any FMAB purist reading out there. Yes, I'm kinda stretching the rules. I'm sorry XD *shrugs* Let's just chalk it up to it "being the future" and them discovering some new stuff.
> 
> Anyway, guys, I'm actually kinda on time for this update! *dies* It's tough y'all but I'll keep trying to update at the end of every month. This AU is fun as much as it is ultra challenging, so I hope you guys are enjoying it!
> 
> If you like my writing, I have other Haikyuu!! fics [here](http://archiveofourown.org/users/kvhottie/pseuds/kvhottie/works?fandom_id=758208).
> 
> Follow me on [tumblr](http://www.kvhottiescribe.com)! Lets be friends.


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